


The Sixth Ranger (A Power Rangers Story) Book 1

by Pinktree26



Series: The Sixth Ranger [1]
Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-05 14:32:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 23
Words: 30,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14620683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinktree26/pseuds/Pinktree26
Summary: There aren't just five Power Rangers. There are six. Instead of Jason being the Red Ranger, Jaylyn is. Kimberly is the Pink Ranger, Trini the Purple Ranger, Billy the Yellow Ranger, Zack the Black Ranger, and Jason the Blue Ranger and second-in-command. Jaylyn is a shy girl, but loyal to her friends, when she made them. Together, as a team, they will be able to save the world and the Zeo Crystal from harm.





	1. Prologue

Planet Earth: Cenozoic Era

 

    Destruction. That's the first thing seen. Pteranodons flew overhead in the smoke and ash. Fire raged on the mountain side. Heavy breathing could be heard from a red mask. The Red Power Ranger. Injured and dying, he made his way to one of his teammates as a spaceship flew above him. He was knocked to the ground by the gust of wind that the engines sent, taking a few seconds to regain himself. Crawling, he finally reached the Yellow Power Ranger. She handed him a coin, placing it in his hand. 

    "I'm sorry," the Red Ranger, Zordon, said in an alien language. "I'm sorry." 

    The Yellow Ranger gasped before falling silent forever. 

    "Alpha, I'm the last one left. We must stop her. Send the meteor to my coordinates," Zordon said, crawling to a hole in the ground. He took off his own coin, holding it in his hand. "Seek only those who are worthy. Find those who are strong."

    He placed the coins in the ground, hands spread out over them. A red ring grew from the centre and spread outward, leaving burnt ground. A laugh could be heard, making Zordon look up. A woman in a green suit of armour stood there, a golden sceptre in her hand. A green coin glowed from the tip of the sceptre, glowing in the semi-darkness of the world. 

    "With the Zeo Crystal, we could have ruled the Universe together," the woman said. 

    "That was never going to happen," Zordon told her. 

    "Then you will die, Zordon," the woman snarled. 

    "We will die together, Rita," the Red Ranger replied. 

    A loud rumbling was heard, making Rita gasp and look up. A meteor was hurtling towards them at full speed. It hit the ground, knocking Zordon to the ground and sent Rita flying through the air and into the water. The green coin was detached from the now broken sceptre. Both woman and coin were lost to the sea. Zordon lay face-down on the ground, a large, glowing blue crystal visible behind him. The centre of the crystal pulsed with a blue light, illuminating the area. Zordon nor Rita were seen for a very long time.


	2. Detention School

    A truck drives up to a white-walled building with red trimming around the windows on the second and third floor. Three weeks have past since the prank, and Jason is sitting in the shotgun seat. His father is driving him and pulls into the parking lot. Jason's dad, Sam, looks over at him. Jason had his eyes closed, then looks out the window. He unbuckles his seat belt and put his foot on the dashboard to tie his shoe. As he does, there's a device strapped to his leg. House arrest. 

    "You know, I don't think we're ever gonna understand each other," Sam said. "Just when I think you've done the dumbest thing you could possibly do, you find something even dumber and you do it."

    Jason scoffs. "Thank you."

    "I promise you, this in not the moment to be a wiseass. And I know you thinks it's noble that you didn't rat out your friends."

    "I acted alone. Beefcake and I had a connection."

    "Yeah, that's funny. You know what's not funny? This was supposed to be your season. I had scouts coming to every game. You could have written your own ticket. Now it's all gone. Now you gotta come here every Saturday for the rest of the year just so you can graduate! With all these other weirdos and criminals."

    Jason merely nods. "Yeah. Like you said, we'll never understand each other."

    Sam scoffs then reaches over to open Jason's door. There was a sportscaster speaking in Jason's mind, replaying what he had heard before at one of his games. 

    "One play left in the entire game. Can Angel Grove do it? They're down by five. Jason Scott takes his position at quarterback. Here comes the snap. Wide receiver Marty Borne looks like he's open. He's getting ready for a pass. Jason Scott makes-- no, no, wait, he doesn't make a pass! What a pump fake! He's running with the ball. He's at the 20, the 15, the ten. Jason Scott scores! Touchdown! Jason Scott singlehandedly brings the team home for the championship!"

    Jason had, by now, reached the water fountain in the school. He looked up at the display case that held his jersey and trophies. As footsteps sounded behind him, he turned around to find a girl with long black hair walking towards him. He picks up his bag and leans against the wall. As the girl comes closer, he raises his hand in greeting. However, he is ignored as the girl walks passed him. The classroom is in disarray, with rap music playing and teenagers shouting random stuff. Some are sitting at their desks. Jason comes in at the top of the stairs and walks down. A bully looks at him from his chair and cups his hand around his mouth. 

    "Moo!" he calls out. 

    Jason ignores him as he continues down the stairs. 

    "That's so funny," a girl said as other students laugh. 

    "Hey, are you sure you're in the right room?" a boy asked. 

    "Oh, big tough guy," another called out. 

    As Jason walks by, a colored boy looks up at him. He then resumes his coloring. He had a map spread out in front of him, colored pencils lined up neatly and in order. 

    "This one goes here. That one goes there," he mumbled, rearranging the pencils. He doesn't notice the bully walking towards him. "Primary colors go on this side, this one goes--"

    The bully purposefully knocks into him, making the pencils scatter. 

    "I'm sorry," the bully said, bending down to pick up the pencils. "Here, let me help you."

    He picked up an orange pencil and holds it out to the boy at the desk. As he goes to take the pencil, the bully yanks it away. 

    "You're a freak. You know that? I've had to watch you play with these for weeks. Are you crazy?" the bully asked, drawing the attention of Jason, who was on the other side of the room. The boy shook his head. "No? What if you had an extra one?" 

    The bully snapped one of the pencils in half and dropped it. 

    "Freak," a boy said. 

    Other students laughed. 

    "Why don't you cut this little act and do something? Why don't you stop me? Huh? Are you going to stop--"

    The girl from earlier looked over at the boy as well. 

    "Hey!" Jason said, shoving the bully. "How old are you? Five? Hi, I'm Jason. It's my first time here. It's exciting. And you must be the bully of detention. How dumb can you be?"

    The bully tries to punch Jason, who easily moves aside. Students gasp as they watch the scene unfold. The bully goes for another punch, only to be dodged again. Jason is completely calm as he punches the bully in the jaw. 

    "Oh!" all of the students exclaim. 

    "Did you just slap me?" the bully asked, trying to comprehend what just happened. 

    "I did. Weird, right? Now I'm gonna be here every day for what seems like the rest of my life, and I'm sure that you are, too. So let's make a deal. Don't sit near me, or him, and we'll be okay," Jason said. 

    Jason then walks off, leaving the bully standing in shock. The girl from the hallway looks at her phone as two messages come through. 

    "Okay!" the male teacher said. 

    'LADIES ROOM NOW,' the texts said. 

    "Uh, approved homework, or working on the Better Choices workbook. These should be out and in progress," the teacher said, coming down the stairs as the girl got up. 

    "I need to go to the ladies' room," she said as she passed him. 

    "Uh... Okay. And good morning," the teacher said. 

    The girl entered the bathroom with her phone and looked around. Two girls flung open the door of one of the stalls, laughing. 

    "Oh, my God," the girl gasped. "I got your text and I was like, 'Where are they?'"

    "So this is where you come every Saturday instead of practice," one of the girls said. 

    "God, this must suck," the other one chimed in. 

    "It does," the black-haired girl agreed. 

    "Well, then you shouldn't have sent Ty that picture of me," the blonde said. 

    "That's not exactly how it happened. I mean, he's a liar," the black-haired girl replied. 

    One of the girls, Harper, responded, "You punched his tooth out."

    "They put it back," the first girl said. 

    "Water under the bridge now. Let's move on," the blonde said. 

    "Oh, thank God," the first girl sighed. 

    "We're moving on. Without you," the second girl said. 

    "Cutting you out. Literally," Harper added, pulling out a picture of the three of them and a pair of scissors. 

    She cut the picture and let half of it fall to the floor. 

    "You can show up for cheer practice if you want, but I wouldn't," she continued, stabbing the scissors into the photo and pinning it to the wall. 

    The two girls giggled and let the room, leaving the girl to stand there alone. The door opened a few seconds later to reveal a red-haired girl. 

    "Kimberly?" she asked. 

    Kimberly turned around to face her. It was the new girl in the school. Her name was Jaylyn. 

    "Jaylyn, why are you here?" Kimberly asked. 

    "I saw the two girls leave as I was coming here. They seemed to be laughing, but not out of happiness. More like the laughter of two girls who just bullied someone. I wanted to see if you were okay," she answered, coming into the room. 

    "I'm fine," Kimberly assured her. 

    Jaylyn spotted the picture on the wall and raised an eyebrow. 

    "Kimberly Hart, you are not fine. The two girls, the way you seem to be hurt emotionally, and the picture that was obviously roughly cut all scream 'not okay.'" 

    Kimberly sighed and told Jaylyn what had happened. She frowned at the picture and took it off the wall. She tore the picture to shreds and let the pieces fall to the floor. Kimberly took the scissors and cut her hair to a little above her shoulders. 

    "Looks good," Jaylyn commented. 

    "Thanks. You seem to be a cool girl."

    "Not many people say that. I take it that it is a compliment?"

    "Yes. Seeing as I lost two friends, would you like to be my new friend?"

    "Me? Friends with the popular Kimberly Hart? You sure you want me to be your friend?"

    "I'm sure."

    "Okay. Sure."

    The two girls walked down the stairs to the classroom, drawing all eyes to them. Jaylyn had cut her hair as well. It was shoulder-length, a little longer then Kimberly's. All eyes turned to the two of them. In that moment, both girls were more popular than before. Jaylyn smiled at Jason and the bullied boy. They smiled back. Little did the four know, they would soon have two more friends to add to the group.


	3. Help

    Jason walked out of the school, closely followed by the boy he had helped from the bully. Jason looked into the parking lot to see Kimberly getting yelled at by her father for cutting her hair. Jaylyn was merely walking home, as she did every little day. 

    "Hey, thanks for that in there," the boy said. 

    "No worries. I hate guys like that," Jason said, walking down the stairs. 

    "Oh, so. Hey, we should, uh, hang out sometime, huh? Not that we have to. But I think tonight we should," the boy said. 

    "What's your name again?" Jason asked. 

    "Billy. Billy Cranston," he answered, holding out his hand to Jason, who laughed. "Or William Cranston. You remember kids used to call me Billy Crams-tons as a third grade joke? Like Billy crams tons of crayons in his butt. Which I didn't! But it's really impossible to cram a ton of crayons in a butt. No, no, I'm sorry, I shouldn't say that," Billy said. 

    The two boys had stopped on the stairs, Jason turning to face the over excited boy. 

    "Okay, Billy. I would honestly hang out with you, but I have a date every night with the Angel Grove Sheriff's Department," Jason said, lifting up his pant leg to reveal the home arrest device attached to his leg. "So... I'm sorry."

    Jason continued to walk down the stairs, letting the pant leg fall back down to his ankle. 

    "Wait-- no, no, no. Don't leave, don't leave, hey. All right, so I don't really expect to for us to hang out. Truth is I need to get somewhere tonight, and I could really use your help," Billy called out, following him. 

    "Billy, I hear you, but as I told you, I have house arrest. There's nothing I can do about it. I'm sorry."

    "Well, like, I mean, I can fix that. I know how to trick the SIM. I have, uh-- I have tools."

    The two boys were now on level ground, on the sidewalk. Jason was facing Billy once more, who was insisting that he could help him. 

    "I have to be in my house before 7:00," Jason said. 

    "Well, if you come to my house before 7:00, then I can fix it for you. Oh! I also have a car. Or access to a car. And if you decide to help me, you can have the car for a few hours," Billy told him. 

    Jason walked off and went home. Opening his fridge, he took out a burger and placed it on the counter for later. Looking up, he spots the news article about the 'Angel Grove's Golden Boy' hanging on the fridge. The door opens, and Jason's dad walks in, hanging his coat on the hanger. Sam wanders into the kitchen, seeing his son, who turns away and walks off. 

    "Come on, honey. Let's go," Beverly, Jason's mom, said to the little girl in the living room. "Don't be so hard on him," she added to her husband. 

    Jason sits on his bed, looking at the house arrest device. 

    "How do you think he feels walking around town now?" his mother continued. 

    "How do you think I feel walking around town now?" Sam snaps. 

    "Let's not do this tonight," Beverly sighed. 

    Jason grabs one of his small trophies and looks at it for a second. He snaps the figure off the top as his father continues to shout. 

    "What's the plan, huh? What's he gonna do with his life? He could've been so much more."

    Jason looks at his digital clock, seeing the time. 6:22. He sighs and gets up from his bed. He was going to get this house arrest thing fixed. He grabs his bag from his closet and swings it over his shoulder. Running outside, he hops on his bike and rides hard and fast through the alleys and streets. Doing a few tricks to take shortcuts, he makes it to town, passing the Angel Grove sign. As he rode in the street, horns honked and people shouted. 

    "Get out of the way!" a man shouted after him. 

    He cuts in front of a car, which screeches to a stop. Two girls who were walking by, stopped to see him. 

    "Oh, my God, is that Jason Scott?" one asked. 

    Jason doesn't stop until he reached Billy's house, panting. The door opened to reveal Billy's mom, Cadence. 

    "Oh, my God! Jason Scott!" she said, letting him in. 

    "Billy?" Jason asked, going to the basement. 

    "Yeah," came the reply. 

    "Billy!"

    "Yes?"

    Jason thundered down the stairs to see Billy at his desk. 

    "It's 6:56--"

    "6:56, I know. You got four minutes. Grab that chair," Billy said, standing up and moving to grab the things he needed. 

    Jason sat down, looking at all the things cluttering the basement. 

    "What's all this stuff?" he asked. 

    "It's objects that I found with my dad. Most of it is his," Billy answered, moving items out of his way.     

    "Hey," Jason mumbled. 

    "Where's the cage? Where's the cage? Here. Here it is," Billy said, grabbing a piece of metal mesh and walking over to Jason. "Put your foot in this."

    "What is it?"

    "It's a Faraday gate. It should stop the cell signal if we're lucky," Billy explained, getting up again to grab more things. 

    A beeping filled the room, making Jason look down at his leg in panic. 

    "That's the three-minute warning. Come on, bud. If the signal goes off--" Jason started. 

    "My dad's been dead on for seven years, four months, and two days? Yeah, two days."

    "Um, okay, um..."

    "That's a long time. He used to work at the mine."

    "Billy, I really don't think that we have time--"

    Billy had, by now, taken out the chip in the device and plugged it into his hard drive. The drive was plugged into the computer, and Billy was typing away. Looking up, he spoke again. 

    "You still live at 4455 Old Wharf?"

    "Yes-- yes, I do."

    "Great house."

    "Okay."

    "So, yeah, about my dad. We used to go and find objects together," Billy continued, not ceasing in his typing. "Some really, really old."

    "I'm gonna get in trouble, Billy."

    "Oh! Almost like that show American Pickers."

    "Billy, the signal's gonna go off."

    "We should've definitely had our own TV show," Billy said, taking out the chip and leaning forward to put it back into the house arrest device. "That would've been so crazy."

    The steady beeping quickened its pace, causing Jason to panic more. Billy continued to talk, removing the Faraday gate from around Jason's leg. 

    "What are you doing?" Jason asked. "Dude, come on, seriously. It's gonna go-- Billy, come on!"

    The rapid beeping continues as Billy looked up. 

    "What?" he asked. 

    There was along beep from the house arrest device and then a small chirp. The red light turned back to green. Jason looked up at Billy, astounded. His face broke into a grin as he hugged Billy, who was shocked to say the least. 

    "Thank you," Jason said, pulling away but keeping his hands on Billy's shoulders. 

    "Mmm-hmm. Can you stop touching me now?" Billy asked.


	4. Running Away?

    Jason and Billy were driving on the road a few minutes later, heading out of town. 

    "It's so cool you actually showed up," Billy said as they drove over the train tracks.     "Well, you are giving me the van," Jason replied. 

    "Lending you the van. But, yeah."

    "How much further is it?"

    "Just 44 minutes and 52 seconds."

    "Uh..." Jason laughs. "Okay."

    "Thank you for helping me today."

    "That's okay, Billy."

    Jason stopped the van in front of the mine entrance, looking at the sign. 

    "Uh... Okay, this is the entrance to the gold mine, and clearly, Billy, the sign says--" Jason started, only to be cut off. 

    "Keep driving," Billy interjected with a smile. 

    "Okay," Jason said, continuing to drive after a moments' hesitation. 

    "If we find something cool, then you can keep half," Billy promises as they entered the mine. "It's a rule that me and my dad made."

    "Thanks, Billy."

    As they drove by, they saw miners working away. After they parked, Billy and Jason started to pull a heavy box along one of the ridges. 

    "They're gonna blow this whole thing," Billy said. "It'll all be gone in a week."

    "Billy, can I be honest? The deal was I drop you somewhere, and I get the van for a few hours, okay? This is weird. Like, we don't know each other at all. I don't know what we're doing here. And you seem kinda--" Jason started. 

    "Wait, I gotta tell you something, okay?" Billy interrupted. "I'm on the spectrum."

    By spectrum, he meant the Asperger Spectrum. Jason didn't seem to realize this and instead seemed very confused. 

    "Well, is that like a workout program?" he asked. "Like Tae Bo?"

    "No. It's a diagnosis. Excuse me," Billy said, moving to where Jason had been standing on the other side of the box. 

    "I know.  It was a joke. I was kidding," Jason explained, moving to the opposite side of the box. 

    "See, that's the thing. I didn't get the joke. Like my brain doesn't work the same as yours does, you know?"

    "Yeah, well, consider that a good thing."

    "It's just that I can't read humor or-- or sarcasm. Oh! But I do remember things," Billy went on. 

    "Okay," Jason said. 

    "I remember everything."

    "Okay," Jason repeated. "Billy, let me stop you."

    "Okay," Billy said. 

    He dropped the box, making Jason grunt. He had been holding onto the handle and wasn't expecting Billy to drop the box. 

    "You don't need to tell me all this. We're cool," Jason said, standing upright again.

    "Okay. Well, we're almost there," Billy said, bending down to get the box again. "Which is good news, so..."

    Jason sighs and turns around. He starts to walk off, not taking any notice of Billy still talking. 

    "Take my spare flashlight now, 'cause it's gonna be dark when we get back," he said, opening the box and not seeing Jason walking away. 

    "Bye, Billy!" Jason called out, making Billy look up. 

    "Okay!" Billy called back after a small hesitation. 

    He turned his attention back to his task, closing the box once more. Jason headed back to the van with a sigh. Something on the hill caught his attention. An old train car was on the top of the hill, lights around it. At the train, there was a small fire in the fire pit. A boy was sitting on top of it, swinging his legs. 

    "Ah, she's back again," he said, chuckling. 

    Pulling out a pair of binoculars, he put them to his eyes to see a girl. 

    "Oh, crazy girl. Just like clockwork."

    The girl was standing on another hill, arms up over her head with her hands together. She was listening to music as she watched the miners below her working. She appeared to be meditating, even with the loud music. The boy was still watching her from a distance. 

    "Who are you?" he asked. 

    Jason had made it to the van now, keys out to open it. However, he heard music and stopped. He followed the music into the forest and saw Kimberly and Jaylyn on a rock not far away. Below them, was a river. Jason stopped and watched the two girls. They were taking off their clothes, going to jump into the water. Jason didn't move, silent. He watched as the two girls dived backward off the rock and landed in the water below. He smiled. 

    "No way!" he gasped. 

    He waited for them to resurface and, when they didn't, he frowned. 

    "Uh... hello?" he asked quietly. "Hey!"

    There was no response. He watched the water slowly return to the normal calm after the jump of the two girls. Jason was starting to panic now, running to the rock where they had once stood. 

    "Hey!" he called out. 

    He reached the rock and looked at the water.     

    "No, no, no, no. Kimberly! Jaylyn!" he called out. "Kimberly! Jaylyn!"

    When he received no answer, he took off his coat and bit his lip. 

    "Okay. Okay," he muttered, preparing to jump after the two girls. 

    The two girls had gotten out of the water out of his sight and now picked up their towels. 

    "It's strange to hear you say our names," Kimberly said. 

    Jason's head snapped to the side to see them wrap the towels around themselves. 

    "What?" he asked. "What did you say?"

    "She said, it's strange to hear you say our names. Like we know each other," Jaylyn answered. 

    "We... we do know each other," Jason said. 

    "Oh, we know who each other are, but we don't really know each other," Kimberly told him, the two girls walking over to him. 

    "I know you used to date Ty Fleming," Jason said, looking at Kimberly. 

    "Oh. Then you know she punched his tooth out," Jaylyn replied. 

    "I know they put it back," Jason said. 

    There was a small silence while the three looked at each other. Jason turned away to let the girls get dressed again. 

    Meanwhile, Billy was panting as he set up his equipment. He unrolled coils of wire, pushed some into a small hole in the rock. The whole time, he spoke. 

    "Dad, I hope you're watching. Gonna make you proud. Dad, I forgot to tell you, uh, I took the van without asking Mom's permission. Well, I'm telling you, so I think thats okay. Anyways, I gotta focus. Okay," Billy said, rushing around to get everything ready. 

    Kimberly, Jaylyn, and Jason were walking to the edge of the ridge together. 

    "So, what are you doing up here? Did you follow us?" Jaylyn asked. 

    "I, uh, came with... Billy," Jason answered. 

    "Billy Cranston? Weird. But I've seen him up here before," Kimberly said. "My house is on the other side of the mountain. I hike these trails sometimes, clear my head, and I stare down at Angel Grove and wonder how such a small, crap town could cause me such misery."

    Jason laughs as he stares at the town spread below them. Kimberly and Jaylyn look at him. 

    "That funny to you?" Kimberly asked. 

    "No, I just-- I feel the same way," Jason answered. 

    "Yeah. Jason Scott, star quarterback, crashes and burns. Destroys his career adn destroys out season. Go Tigers," Kimberly whispered. 

    Jason smiled slightly, looking at her.  

    "Yeah, now I walk around town with everybody looking at my like I ran over their dog," he turned to Jaylyn. "I don't believe I caught your name."

    "I'm Jaylyn," she said with a warm smile.  

    "Jason Scott," the boy said, holding out his hand for her to shake. 

    She slowly grasped his hand in hers and shook it. He noticed her behavior and smiled. 

    "You're shy, aren't you?" Jason asked. 

    "A bit. I'm not a social person. That's why, when Kim asked if I would be her friend, I wasn't entirely sure what to do. I'm the new one at school, and I don't have many friends," she said quietly. 

    Kimberly took a few steps back and melted into the shadows to watch. Jason looked at her, but she shook her head and pointed to her friend. Jason looked back at Jaylyn, who had her head turned away. 

    "Hey, if you need anything, don't hesitate to come to me. If you're in need of a friend and Kimberly isn't nearby, I'll be here for you. Okay?" Jason told her. 

    She looked back at him with a small smile. She nodded and sighed, looking out over the land. 

    "I've told Kim this, but if you are to be my friend, I should most likely tell you, too," she started. "I was abandoned at birth. My parents didn't want a daughter so they threw me out. I don't know how I survived, but someone cared for me until I was old enough to fend for myself. I live up here in the mountains, alone. That's why I'm not social. I've not been around people much. And I appreciate the friendship offer. I might just take you up on that," she finished with a smile. 

    Jason was shocked at her story. He knew she wasn't lying by the way he saw tears in her eyes. Her smile was pained, and he felt the same pain in his heart. As a tear slipped from her eye, Jason wiped it away gently. As Jaylyn started to cry, he pulled her to him, letting her cry into his chest. He didn't mind, knowing that, as her friend, he would help her in any way possible. When he had seen her walk down the stairs with Kimberly, he had taken a liking to her. She looked like a tough person, one who's been through a lot. And that assumption was correct, it turned out. 

    "It's okay, Lyn. It'll be okay. I promise. I won't let anything happen to you," he murmured. 

    "Thanks, Jay," she whispered. 

    Kimberly came back out and stood at the edge. Jason released Jaylyn and looked at both girls. 

    "So, why don't you leave? You know, just go," Kimberly asked him, going back to the previous conversation. "I could leave here, you know?"    

    "Where?" Jason asked. 

    "God, anywhere," she answered, scoffing. 

    "So let's go," Jason announced, looking at the two girls.

    Jaylyn laughs, making all eyes turn to her. 

    "What?" Jason asked. 

    "You'd never do it," Kimberly said. 

    "Try me," Jason retorted. 

    "Oh, what, you and us? You got a car?" Kimberly asked. 

    "I have a van," Jason replied. 

    "Ooh, that's creepy," Jaylyn said with a smile. 

    Jason laughed. "It's not that kind of van."

    "Every van is that kind of van," Kimberly said. 

    "So, let's go," Jason repeated. 

    "Are you daring us? 'Cause we'll go," Jaylyn said. 

    The three of them were smiling, unaware of the giant explosion that was going to come. 

    Billy attached a cable to a car battery and picked up the remote and a key on a silver chain. 

    "Okay," he whispered.

    He put the key in the slot and turned it. He flipped up a red cover to reveal a switch. In front of him was a hard stone wall. 

    "Dad, get ready," Billy said. 

    He flicked the switch but nothing happened. He tried it a few more times and looked at it. 

    "That didn't work," he said. 

    He saw an unconnected wire and put it in its place. The second he did, the wall blew up, sending Billy flying backwards, screaming. Jaylyn, Kimberly, and Jason heard his screams and ran to him, hoping he wasn't hurt.


	5. Power Coins

    "Whoa! Whoa!" Billy called out, struggling to his feet. "That really rung my bell."

    "Hey, hey, hey!" Jason yelled.     

    "Go, go, go, go, go!" Kimberly shouted. 

    Jason, Kimberly, and Jaylyn came sliding down the hill to Billy, who was still trying to regain his balance. 

    "Oh! Wow!" Billy shouted. 

    "Hey!" the train boy, Zack, called out. "What are you doing, dude?"

    "I been digging up here for some years," Billy said. 

    "Hey! Easy, guy. Let's sort this out, huh?" Jason said, pushing Zack away from Billy. 

    "I seen hum up here before," Zack said, pointing at Billy. 

    "Hey, Jason," Billy said. 

    "Dude cannot be walking around blowing stuff up!" Zack continued. 

    "I was just trying to dig a little deeper!" Billy yelled, not knowing that they could hear perfectly clear. "Maybe I dug too deep."

    "Billy, you don't have to yell. We can hear you, okay?" Jason asked. 

    "Okay!" Billy yelled. 

    "Hey!" a voice yelled. "You guys looking to get busted or something? This place is a restricted area!"

    "Oh, really, Einstein? Restricted? As in, we shouldn't be standing on crazy rocks doing Karate Kid moves, right?" Zack asked. 

    A deep rumbling was heard as Billy walked up to the rock wall. No one else seemed to hear it, though. Billy turned back to look at them. 

    "Uh... Guys..." he said. 

    "Yeah. I see you," Zack continued. 

    "Yeah, or camping out on old trains. I see you, too, homeboy," the girl replied. 

    "Uh, guys..." Billy tried again as the rumbling continued. 

    "There's a lotta mine security out tonight," the girl continued. 

    "Who is she?" Jaylyn asked. 

    "I don't know," Jason answered. "I've never seen her before."

    Billy ran his hand over the rock, feeling the vibrations. Part of the rock started to crack, causing Billy to yank his hand away. 

    "Oh, no," he whispered. 

    He turned and ran as the rock crumbled. The girl on top of the rocks gasped and screamed as she was taken down with the rocks. Jason, on instinct, turned and jumped over on top of Jaylyn to protect her. His arms wrapped around her as he put his back to the crumbling rocks, shielding her body with his own. Jaylyn was curled up into a ball in fear. Zack had launched himself to protect the new girl, Trini. Billy was hovering over Kimberly. The boys were protecting the girls on instinct. When the rocks were done falling, the boys slowly removed themselves from the girls, making sure they were safe. 

    "Are you okay?" Jason asked, his question directed at Jaylyn only to be answered by everyone. 

    "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," Trini answered. 

    The others agreed before standing up. They were still coughing from the dust cloud that had risen up with the crash. 

    "Whoa," Billy said as he stared at the newly broken wall. "What is it?"

    The group made their way over to the wall together. 

    "Whoa," Jason mumbled. 

    Flashlights were clicked on as they saw it was a dark green glass wall in the rock. They walked up to it, examining the glass. Swirls and other patterns littered the smooth surface, making it look like blown glass. Jaylyn reached out to touch it but was stopped by a hand. Jason had unknowingly grabbed her wrist to make sure she didn't touch it. It was only when she pulled her hand away that he realized what he had done. He looked at her in surprise, seeing his hand still near hers. 

    "What was that for?" Jaylyn asked.  

    "I didn't even realize what I was doing. Sorry," Jason apologized. 

    Jaylyn laughed quietly, making him smile. 

    "I've never seen glass like this before," Billy said, running his hand over it. 

    "Oh, my God," Trini whispered. 

    Thunder rumbled in the distance, causing Jason and Jaylyn to look at the sky. Jaylyn caught sight of something in the glass and frowned. 

    "What is it? What is that?" she asked. 

    "There's something in there," Kimberly added. 

    Zack went to grab a pick axe and ran back over, shoving Billy out of the way. 

    "Move," he said. "Alright, watch out, watch out. Look!"

    "What are you doing?" Billy asked. "Wait, no, no, no! No, no!"

    Zack hacked away at the glass, trying to get to the objects inside. 

    "Seriously?" Trini asked. 

    "What are you doing?" Billy asked as Zack continued breaking the glass. 

    "Oh, yeah!" Zack said. 

    One of the strange glowing coins was dislodged and fell to the ground. Kimberly picked it up, seeing the color was pink. 

    "There's gotta be more. Let's get it!" Zack said, reaching up to get the next one. 

    "Get out of the way," Jason said, pulling Billy away. 

    "That doesn't mean keep banging!" Billy hissed. 

    Another coin was dislodged, Zack bending down to pick it up. 

    "What is it?" Zack asked. 

    This one was glowing black. Zack took the pink and black one and set them on the ground, taking the pick in his hand again. 

    "What? No, no! Don't break it," Billy told him. 

    "No. No, no, no!" Jason said. 

    Zack didn't listen and started to break the glass surrounding it. 

    "Don't break it! Don't break it! Don't break--" Jason tried to stop Zack. 

    "You broke it. Okay," Billy said as Zack finished. 

    Kimberly and Zack picked up the two freed coins, holding them up the the flashlight. 

    "Whoa. What?" Jason asked. 

    Jaylyn bent down and picked up a red one. Jason found a blue one and rubbed the dirt off of it. Trini found a purple one, Billy got a yellow one. In all, Jaylyn was red, Kimberly was pink, Trini was purple, Jason was blue, Zack was black, and Billy was yellow. Each coin was glowing slightly, earning a few gasps. 

    "Oh, my God," Trini whispered. 

    "What is that?" Kimberly asked. 

    "Yo, look, we all found these. If they're worth any money..." Zack started. 

    "No, he found them," Jaylyn intercepted. 

    "Now chill out," Jason added from beside Billy. 

    An alarm started blaring, catching the attention of Kimberly. 

    "Chill out?" Zack asked as Kimberly spoke. 

    "Guys, guys, do you hear that?" she asked. 

    "Mine security. Peace," Zack said as he turned and ran as the sirens continued blaring. 

    "Somebody should've pointed that out. Wait, I did," Trini said. 

    "Billy!" Jason called.  

    "Wait, okay, okay," Billy replied. 

    "Run!" Jason yelled. 

    All six teenagers split up. Jason and Billy raced to the van, Zack went his own separate way on top of the ridge, and Jaylyn, Kimberly, and Trini were running along a hill. All hoped for one thing: to not be caught.


	6. Escape

    "Billy! Just run to the... come on!" Jason called over his shoulder. "Billy, let's go! Haul ass, dude!"

    "I'm coming!" Billy yelled. 

    They raced to the van, and Jason fumbles with the keys. The car alarm starts to blare. 

    "Are you kidding me?" Jason hissed as Billy went to the other side of the van. 

    Jason jumped into the driver's seat as Billy tried to open the passenger door. The door, however, was locked. Billy ended up banging on the window to get Jason's attention. 

    "Ja-- Jason! Jason!" Billy yelled. 

    "What are you doing?" Jason asked. 

    "You gotta open the doors!"

    Jason leaned over and opened the door as Billy yelled again. 

    "Open the door!"

    The door opened, and Jason leaned back in his seat. 

    "Yes, okay, just get in," he said. 

    "What are you doing?" Billy asked as he shut the door and put on his seatbelt. 

    "Did you see them? Are they down the road?" Jason asked.     

    "I don't know."

    "Okay."

    Jason pulled out and started driving. 

    "Okay, what about the others?" Billy asked. "You gonna leave the others?"

    "Hold on," Jason answered, making a sharp turn.     

    "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Jason!" Billy yelled as the van crashed through the gates. 

    A security truck came chasing after them, siren wailing. As Jason drove, the van slipped sideways, causing Billy to scream. 

    "Whoo!" Jason, on the other hand, was having the best time of his life. 

    "Oh, my mom's gonna kill me," Billy said. 

    "Stop right there!" a mine security guard yelled. 

    "Shit! Put your seatbelt on," Jason said. 

    "I got my seatbelt on!" Billy yelled at him. "Jason! Somebody's gonna die."

    Two motorcycle security guards were ahead of them, but Jason didn't slow down, forcing them to move aside. 

    "Whoa!" Jason exclaimed. 

    "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

    "Whoo-hoo!"

    "Woah!"

    Jason took another sharp turn and spotted the three girls running. 

    "There they are!" Jason shouted. 

    "Okay, so..." Billy started. 

    "Up the hill! Come on!"

    "Get 'em!" 

    "Okay!" Trini said, all three girls breathing heavily. 

    Trini pointed to something and the other two nodded. 

    "Okay, you drive," Jason said to Billy. 

    "No, I-- I really don't drive," Billy answered. 

    "Okay, then really don't drive, so I can pull them in."

    The two managed to maneuver so that Jason was in the back and Billy was driving. 

    "I don't drive!" Billy exclaimed. "Get your foot!"

    "I got it!" Jason said as he opened the door. 

    "Wait, it says that the door's open."

    "That's because it's open, Billy."

    "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

    Jason was laughing as he hung halfway out the door. 

    "Go, go, go!" he yelled, seeing the security behind them. 

    "Okay. Okay."

    "There they are! Get closer to them!"

    The three girls were running to the van when they saw that the door was opened. 

    "Get in!" Jason called out. 

    Kimberly was the first to reach Jason, who pulled her in. Trini was the second, with Jaylyn pushing herself to her limits. Jason was afraid she wasn't going to make it and leaned farther out the door, hand outstretched. 

    "Jaylyn, come on! Billy, slow down a bit!" Jason shouted. 

    "Don't slow down!" Trini yelled. 

    "We need to get Jaylyn!" Kimberly snapped. 

    Billy slowed down a bit and allowed Jaylyn to catch up. Jason gripped her hand tightly and yanked her into the van. 

    "I'm in!" she shouted. 

    Jason slammed the door shut as Trini moved to the front seat to allow the other three to have more room in the back. 

    "What about the other guy?" Billy asked. 

    The other four looked at each other before shouting at him to keep going. 

    "Billy, look out!" Kimberly shouted. 

    Billy jerked the wheel to the side, knocking some support beams out of the way and causing a large metal beam to fall onto the road behind them, blocking the security. 

    "Let's go downhill! Go to the lights below!" Jaylyn shouted, pointing to the lights. 

    "You wanna drive now?" Billy asked her. 

    "Keep going, Billy, we're almost there," Jason agreed with Jaylyn. 

    "Guys! Guys, there's a train," Trini told them, looking out the window. 

    "We got it!" Jaylyn shouted. 

    Zack was running on a ledge above the van and looked down. He saw the train and the van and took a deep breath. He jumped and landed on the top of the van with a loud thud, startling all the passengers. 

    "Oh, my God!" Trini, Kimberly, and Jaylyn said at the same time. 

    "Hey!" Zack yelled, hanging over so he could look into the van. 

    "Hey, what do you want me to do?" Billy asked. 

    "Hey!" Zack yelled again. 

    "Keep going! I'll pull him in!" Jaylyn instructed, opening the door. 

    Zack grabbed onto Jaylyn, and she yanked him inside, slamming the door closed. Zack sat up and smiled at her. 

    "Are you crazy?" Jason asked.  

    "Yeah, I am," Zack answered with a smile. 

    The train horn blew, reminding them of the situation. Trini turned to look at Billy, fear in her eyes. 

    "Yo, it's catching up," she said. 

    "Look, there's the railroad crossing. That's the way out, Billy," Jaylyn said. 

    Billy floored the accelerator, and the van shot forward. 

    "You got it," Jaylyn whispered. 

    "You got it," Jason reassured. 

    "You got it!" Zack shouted. 

    "I hope he has it," Trini whispered, eyes closed. 

    "He definitely doesn't have it," Kimberly said. 

    "I got it! I got it!" Billy yelled. 

    They broke through the arms of the crossing and were almost across the tracks when the inevitable happened. The train rammed into the van, knocking it up and flipping it over multiple times. Everything seemed to go by in slow motion. The horn of the train was blowing and the teenagers were being tossed around in the van, the coins flying through the air. The van slammed into the ground and rolled down a hill. All six passengers were knocked out. As the rain started to fall, mysterious glows emanated from the coins before all faded away.


	7. Insanely Strong

    Sam was on his large fishing boat with the rest of his crew when the storm turned to the point where it wasn't safe anymore. 

    "Storm's turned. It's gotten bad. We're getting out of here," he said into his radio. 

    He hung up the radio and grabbed his rain jacket. Pulling the hood up over his head, he stepped out of the control room and into the storm to command his crew. 

    "Let's go!" Sam shouted over the wind. "Let's go!"

    Men ran around, working ropes and other equipment as their leader yelled directions. 

    "Pull it port!" Sam shouted. "Pull up the net!"

    The net was raised out of the water, holding tons of fish inside. 

    "Pull up the net!" Sam repeated as the crane slowly got the net up. "Let's go, boy! Pull! A little more starboard!"

    The men were grabbing the net and guiding it to where it needed to be until it was over the deck. 

    "Let her go!"

    The net dropped and the fish scattered everywhere. However, fish wasn't the only thing to come up. The mummified body of a woman lay on the deck. Sam bent over it. 

    "What the hell is that?" he asked. "Get back!"

    The men were moving the fish away from the body, which was scary as heck. The body was placed in a bag and stowed in the fish cellar, where the creatures were put on ice. 

    "Wide to port! ...now!" Sam yelled. 

    "Yeah!" a deckhand shouted back. 

    As the men continued to shout, down in the cellar, the body moved. Green eyes opened and the same eerie green light lit up her body for a split second. 

    Jason sat bolt upright in his bed the next morning. He jumped out of bed and looked around in fright. Panting, he looked himself over for any injuries. It was then that he noticed the house arrest device on the floor. He picked it up and examined it before putting it down. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out the blue coin. He held it up in the sunlight, letting the blue glow slightly. 

    Kimberly stood in her bathroom staring at herself in the mirror. Her phone chimed, alerting her to a text. She picked it up, along with the pink coin, and walked to her room. 

    Billy looked himself over in his basement and sighed. 

    "Okay," he whispered. 

    He looked around and headed to his storage closet. When he opened the door, it was taken off its hinges, making Billy stumble backward in surprise. His mother heard the commotion. 

    "Billy! What's happening down there?" Cadence asked. 

    Billy looked up in shock and slight fear. He quickly turned the door around, knocking over some things in the process. He tried to fit the door back in place on the cabinet. 

    Jason put the blue coin on his dresser and walked into the hall. An eerie vibration could be heard from his room, making him turn around. The second he did, the vibrating stopped. He continued into the bathroom and found the blue coin on the counter of his sink. 

    "What?" he asked, walking over and picking it up. 

    He put it back down and turned on the faucet, rinsing his face with water. He suddenly turns and throws up. When he moves to grab the edge of the sink, the corner was ripped out. He looked at the sink in shock, unsure of what was going on.  

    Kimberly looked at her phone to see a few insults written from her former friends. Out of anger, she gripped her phone tighter. To her utmost surprise and shock, the phone started to crumple under her fingers, the glass screen cracking. 

    Jaylyn was at home, trying to forget the red coin in her pocket. Finally, she walked outside and over to the forest in her backyard. Finding a tree far enough away from home, she took a deep breath and punched it as hard as she could. To her great surprise, it fell over with a crash. What was happening to her?

    The school bell rang as Billy opened his locker to get his binder and pen. People were talking behind him, but he ignored it all. Closing his locker door, the bully came right up to him and knocked the binder onto the floor. 

    "Where's your bodyguard?" he asked. 

    "What are you doing?" Billy asked as the bully grabbed his wrist and bent it slightly. 

    "I'm just gonna quietly snap your wrist, you little bitch," he answered. 

    He tried to break it, but something prevented Billy's wrist to be snapped. The bully tried but nothing happened. Getting angry, he slammed his head into Billy's. This resulted in the bully being knocked out and slowly falling backward. 

    "Oh, no, no, no. Oh... okay," Billy stuttered as the bully hit the floor. 

    "Billy Cranston just knocked Colt Wallace out Cold! Damn, Billy!" someone said as the people around him started to laugh. 

    "What happened? What happened?" a boy asked. 

    Billy turned and walked off as someone else called out.     

    "I didn't see it!"

    "Hi, Billy," a girl said as she and her friends walked by. 

    Billy smiled slightly. Jason was walking downstairs and grabbed Kimberly and Jaylyn as they passed him. 

    "Hey. Come on, come on," he whispered, pulling them back down to the landing. 

    They stopped next to the wall, leaning on it casually as students walked by. 

    "Am I crazy or this is crazy, right?" Jason asked. 

    "It's crazy," Kimberly and Jaylyn said together. 

    "We got hit by a train and we're standing here," Jason continued. "How is that possible?"

    "I don't remember getting home from the mine at all. I slept all day yesterday," Jaylyn said. 

    "We gotta find Billy," Jason said. 

    The two girls nodded in agreement. 

    "You know I wasn't trying to start any trouble or anything like that. And I say, 'Hey, man, look, I'm not a violent person, but if you must come at me, come at me, bro.'" Billy was saying to his audience. 

    They all clapped and cheered for him. It was lunchtime for him and the other four. One of the boys across the table reached out for a fist bump. 

    "Boom! Down goes douchbag," he said. 

    "Down goes... I- I can't say that word," Billy said. 

    "Billy," Kimberly said, coming up with Jaylyn. 

    All eyes turned to the girls in shock. 

    "Hey, Kimberly... Kimberly Hart and Jaylyn," Billy said. 

    "We need to talk," Jaylyn said. 

    The two stand up and walk off, waiting for Billy to follow. 

    "How... what?" one of the boys asked. 

    Billy stood up and followed the two, leaving some very confused people behind. 

    "Since when does he know Kimberly Hart and Jaylyn?" a girl asked. 

    "Billy's awesome," another boy replied. 

    "Nice hair," one of Kimberly's former friends said with a laugh. 

    She ignored the insult and turned to Billy. They were up at the counter now, waiting for Jason. 

    "Billy, look at us," Jaylyn commanded. 

    "Huh?" Billy asked. 

    "Do you feel weird?"

     Kimberly was letting Jaylyn do the talking. 

    "You mean like weirder than usual?" Billy asked. 

    "Yeah. Different," Jaylyn said, placing her red coin on the counter. 

    "Oh," Billy exclaimed, putting his yellow one next to hers. 

    Kimberly put her pink one of the other side on Billy's as Jason walked up. He placed his blue one next to Jaylyn's. 

    "Listen, we know something happened up there, okay?" Jaylyn started. "I'm not the same."

    "Me either. Oh! I'm strong," Billy agreed. 

    "How strong?" Jason and Kimberly asked. 

    "Like, insanely strong," he answered. 

    "I feel like we need to go back up there," Kimberly sighed. 

    The power coins started to vibrate and lift off the counter. All four teenagers slammed their hands onto the coins, pinning them to the metal. Then they noticed something strange. 

    "The counter's boiling," Jaylyn observed. 

    Red burns surrounded the coins, somehow not burning the skin of their hands. Down the line, plastic trays and other items started to melt. Cans of soda exploded, food was sent flying, plastic and styrofoam melted into nothing. The screams of shock and fear exploded from the teenagers around the counter. 

    "We're going back today," Jaylyn said with certainty after all the trauma was over. 

    The others nodded. They took their coins and shoved them in their pockets. Kimberly walked off with a smirk. This was because her former friends had gotten food and drink all over them. Billy was the last to leave, snatching his coin off the counter. The only thing that remained were the burn marks.


	8. Jump the Gap

Sam whistles to catch the attention of the agent walking on the wharf. 

"Come on up. Oh, she's down here," he said as the agent got up into the boat. 

"So you're sure it's a woman?" the agent asked. 

"Not a great looking woman. Come see for yourself," Sam said, opening the hatch. 

"Oh, that smell is... it's intense," he said, looking into the hold. 

"You should make a note of that. Smell inside an old fishing boat that holds a ton of dead fish doesn't smell so good."

The agent had written something down on his notepad while Sam was speaking and looked up. 

"Freaky, right?" Sam asked. "Look, do you need us?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. 

"All right, 'cause I need to get to bed. Lock up when you're done. There's beers in the fridge," Sam said, tossing the keys to the agent. 

The agent jumped into the hold and clicked on his flashlight. He turned around and spotted the woman. 

"Jesus," he whispered, walking closer. 

A few dead fish slipped and landed at his feet, startling him. 

"Jesus," he repeated. "Unit two, this is Meinen," he said into his radio. "I have a body. A deceased female."

An eerie green light shone across the woman's body, drawing the attention of the agent. He turned around in time for the woman to come to life and kill him. 

A train horn blew as four teenagers drove to the mine. Jaylyn, Jason, Kimberly, and Billy were watching the investigators poke around the scene of the crash. The destroyed van was being pulled onto a tow truck as they watched. 

"Let's just keep going," Jaylyn said, turning her attention to the road. 

They reached the glass area again to see the boy there again. 

"Guys, look. Look, it's that guy again," Kimberly said. 

"Find anything interesting?" Jaylyn called out. 

"If I do, I'm keeping it!" Zack yelled back. 

"We know why you're here," Kimberly called out. 

"Oh, yeah?" Zack asked. "You guys wake up surprised to be alive and jump over a house?"

"Yes and no. Yes to being alive. No to jumping over a house. We are all stronger since we found those coins," Jaylyn called out. "Everything's different. We're different."

"Uh, you're Zack, right?" Kimberly asked. 

"Yup," he answered. 

"You still go to Angel Grove?" Jason asked. 

"Ha! Sometimes!" Zack replied. 

The four teenagers laughed. 

"You know, the other girl was here too, about an hour ago," Zack continued. 

"Hey, you mean that girl right there?" Billy asked, pointing to the ledge above Zack. 

All eyes turned to Trini. She was standing there with a backpack on, watching. 

"Hey! Come on down! We should figure this out together!" Jaylyn shouted to her. 

Trini hesitated and ran off. Seconds later, she was scrambling up a steep incline that should be impossible to climb. 

"Whoa," Kimberly said. 

"Oh, screw this," Zack said and bolted after her. 

"Okay, let me handle this," Jaylyn said, backing up. 

"She got up there pretty fast," Billy said. 

"No, no, no!" Jason yelled, trying to stop Jaylyn from jumping after the other two. 

Too late. Jaylyn, followed by Kimberly, jumped off the rocks they had been standing on. The two jumped farther than should be possible, landing on a rock and scrambling up the slope. 

"Yo, keep up," Jaylyn said as she and Kimberly passed Zack. 

He laughed as he followed them. Trini was on the top of the rock first, quickly followed by Jaylyn, Kimberly, and Zack. Jason and Billy weren't too far behind the four. Trini ran and ended up at the edge of a cliff. 

"Stop!" Kimberly shouted. 

Trini stopped at the edge of the cliff, looking down. She turned to see the other five come up to her. 

"Just-- just talk to me," Jaylyn said. "You have a coin. We have a coin. We should just talk about this. I mean, we don't know what this--"

She was cut off as Trini turned, ran, and jumped across the chasm. 

"Whoa! Whoa!" the boys exclaimed. 

"What is wrong with you?" Kimberly whispered. 

They watched as Trini landed on the other side, completely unharmed. 

"Oh, you're crazy! But so am I," Zack called. 

"Whoa, Zack," Kimberly said. 

"No, I got this," he said, backing up. 

"Wait, wait," Billy told him. 

"No, I got this," Zack repeated, running to the edge and jumping. 

"What are you doing?" Jason asked as Zack passed him. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Billy shouted. 

Zack cleared the jump, having the time of his life, and landed on Trini, gripping her ankle. 

"Hey! I got her!" Zack called out. 

"Get off me," Trini said, pulling away. 

"Just jump over," Zack told the others. 

"Let's go. Jump with me. Yeah," Jaylyn said, looking at Kimberly. 

"No, no, no! Don't-- don't jump," Billy pleaded. 

"Okay," Kimberly replied. 

"Billy, you jump across with Jason. It'll be fine," Jaylyn assured him. 

"Don't jump. Don't jump," Billy continued to say as Jason stood next to him. 

Billy was freaking out as Kimberly and Jaylyn jumped over the gap and landed with ease. They turned to the last two. 

"Come on, Billy," Jason said, waiting for his friend to get the courage to jump. 

"The drop is probably more than 100 feet, which means death is imminent. Okay, so if you die, Billy, what's gonna happen? Okay, your mom's be alone. But it's okay 'cause she could find somebody else. But she couldn't, 'cause you love your mom and you really won't..." Billy started. 

"Billy! Look at me," Jason said, gripping his shoulders. "If you die, I'm gonna die right with you. We do this together. If I need to drag you with me, I will do it."

Billy nodded. The two of them lined up and took a deep breath. Together, they leaped off the edge. Jason was having fun, and Billy was terrified as he looked below him. Jason cleared the jump as Billy started to fall slightly below. He slammed into the rock, barely hanging on. He pulled himself up as the others congratulated him. 

"Whoo!" Billy yelled. 

"Yes!" Jason said, clapping. 

"Billy, right! Yeah!" Billy continued. 

He was too close to the edge and slipped off. 

"Billy!" Jaylyn cried out, racing to the edge with the others. "Billy! Billy! Billy!"

There was no response. Zack looked at Jaylyn, who was staring into the chasm. 

"We just kill that dude?" Zack asked. 

"What do we do?" Kimberly asked. 

"Hey, guys, you gotta come down here! It's water! You gotta see this!" Billy's voice yelled. 

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. 

"Yo, alright! I'll see you down guys down there. Uh... bring that crazy girl," Zack said, pointing to Trini. 

Zack jumped off, whooping. Jason walked to the edge and looked down before looking at the girls. 

"Come on, you guys, let's go! Whoo!" Jason yelled, jumping off. 

Kimberly laughed and turned to Trini, who frowned and started to walk away. Thinking quickly, Kimberly caught her attention. 

"Uh, hey... could I get a sip of your water? I'm dying," she said. 

Trini looked at her and then took out her water bottle. Walking back over, she handed it to Kimberly, who took it. 

"Okay. Just don't finish it," Trini said. 

"Thanks. And I'm really sorry," Kimberly replied. 

"Sorry for what?" Trini asked. 

Kimberly and Jaylyn grabbed Trini and jumped off, dragging her with them.


	9. Underground Spaceship

Screaming, they plummeted into the chasm, through a small opening and into water. They resurfaced to see the boys waiting for them. 

"Yeah!" Zack laughs. "Welcome to the club! 'Sup, crazy girl? We gotta do that again."

"Hey, guys. Guys!" Jaylyn said, catching everyone's attention. 

"What?" Zack asked. 

"Check out how we glow," she said. 

"Cool," Zack replied. "I like this."

"I'm blue!" Jason said. 

"Yellow's my favorite color," Billy said, looking at the glow surrounding him. 

"Red!" Jaylyn called out. 

"I love pink," Kimberly said. 

"Purple's mine," Trini said. 

"I'm black!" Zack exclaimed. 

"What?" Billy asked. 

"I am," Zack replied. 

"No, you're not," Billy argued. 

Zack just laughs. Ducking his head underwater, Billy noticed something odd. He comes back up and looks at the others. 

"Hey, guys. There's something down there. Follow me," he said and dove back down. 

The other boys followed, soon joined by Jaylyn and Kimberly. Trini was the last one to follow. Together, they swam straight down and reached what seemed to be a mirror or glass. Billy reached his hand out and it exited the water. He pulled it back in surprise before sticking it back out. They were upside down in the water, the ground dry below them. Jason touched the waters' edge and quickly drew back. Hanging upside down, they poked their heads out of the water, staring at the ground. 

"Where are we?" Jaylyn asked. 

"I don't know," Zack answered. 

"Jason, I'm sliding!" Billy cried out. 

As soon as he said that, he fell. He was closely followed by the others. Screaming, the slammed into the ground below. Trini and Zack rolled on top of each other, on accident of course. 

"Hi," Zack said, looking up at Trini. 

"Again?" she asked. 

Pushing herself off him, she looked up at the water above their heads. The others were doing the same. 

"Well, that is unusual," Billy said. 

"This just gets better and better," Zack replied, flashlight out. 

"Do you feel that?" Kimberly asked as a rumbling noise could be heard. 

"There's something out here," Jaylyn said. 

Kimberly pressed her hand to the rock, feeling vibrations. 

"The walls are shaking," she said and turned away. 

"Come on," Jaylyn instructed. 

"That's impossible," Billy said, entering a large cavern and staring at the sight in front of them all. 

A large spaceship was buried in the rock, seemingly millions or even billions of years old. Carefully, they walked up to it, crossing the floor. As they got closer, the flashlights beams caught the metal, making it gleam. 

"This must've been here for millions of years," Billy said, examining the place. "I mean, look how the rock had grown around it."

"I don't like this place," Kimberly said. 

Jaylyn pulled out her red coin and stared at the pulsing light. 

"Hey, guys," she said, the others coming to gather around her. "Check it out."

Behind them, a door opened at the top of the steps. Jaylyn nodded to her companions and walked up the stairs. The others followed, not wanting to be left behind. They arrived on a platform that formed a circle around the stairs with four walkways leading to different doors. 

"Holy sh--" Zack started. 

"Shh!" Billy hissed. 

"What? Do you think there's aliens in here?" Zack asked. 

"Just be quiet, Zack," Jaylyn told him. 

"Jason, is this real? Like, are we really in a spaceship right now?" Billy asked. 

Jaylyn, having overheard her friend, came over. 

"I think so. Just-- just breathe, okay?" she asked. 

"Hey. We've all seen enough. Right? We should go now?" Trini called out. 

"What? We're gonna be famous!" Zack said, running over. 

"What is wrong with you?" Jason hissed. 

"Quiet!" Jaylyn snapped. "There's something here."

At that moment, things started to move and shift. The startled teenagers didn't know what to do. 

"What was that?" Jaylyn asked. "What going on?"

"The stairs!" Billy exclaimed. 

"Oh, my God!" Trini cried. 

"There's no way out!" Kimberly shouted. 

"Guys, guys, guys!" Billy yelled as a door opened behind them, revealing two eyes. 

"Let's go! That way! Let's go! Let's go!" Jaylyn shouted, pointing to the opposite passage. 

"I'm going!" Billy yelled. 

"Run!" Kimberly yelled. 

They all raced to hide in between the metal columns holding the ceiling up. Those with flashlights turned them off. They could heard indistinct chatter that seemed to come from a robot. Suddenly, Trini was grabbed and dragged away from the group, screaming. 

"Didi, I'm coming!" Zack yelled, racing out of his hiding place. 

"You're real!" the robot exclaimed upon seeing and releasing Trini. 

Zack came in, yelling. 

"Leave her alone!" he shouted. 

The robot's arm grabbed him and threw him into the room they were in before. The others came running and came face-to-face with....


	10. Power Rangers

A robot stood there, watching them stop in front of him. 

"We will kill you," Jaylyn stated. 

"Kill me? How?" the robot asked. 

"There's six of us," Kimberly pointed out. 

"Yes, I know! I've been waiting for you," the robot said. "Wait, where's the other guy? One, two, three, four, five... oh! There he is," the robot said, counting each in front of him and then turning around. 

The robot's arm extended and grabbed Zack, dragging him back to the group. 

"All of you," he said, looking at the six frightened teenagers. 

"In a spaceship buried underground? How long have you been waiting?" Billy asked. 

"What's today? Monday?" the robot asked. 

Billy and the others nodded. The robot seemed to think for a moment before answering. 

"Then 65 million years," it finally said. "I've been very lonely. You're all so young-looking."

The robot moved forward suddenly, startling them all. They moved backward, gasping at the movement. 

"This has to do with the coins?" Jaylyn asked. 

"Yes, yes, the coins!" the robot exclaimed. "Different colors. Different kids. Different-colored kids! I'm so excited you're here!"

Again, it moved forward, and again the teenagers moved back with a gasp. They stared at the robot, not entirely sure what was going on. 

"Turn around," it said, putting its arm back in place from being moved a bit too much. "Go on."

The six turned around to see a room with six small platforms around a circle. In the middle of the circle, hovering, was a sphere of light, colors swirling together. 

"No way," Jaylyn whispered. 

"Proceed," the robot said from behind them. 

Slowly, the teenagers made their way down the stairs to the ground floor. 

"Think this'll work," the robot added. "One, two, three, four, five, six. Different colors."

"Guys, let's focus on getting out of here," Kimberly said. "Stay together, and then when we see a chance--"

"We run like hell," Trini finished. 

"Okay. If we don't get a chance?" Jason asked. 

"Then we kill it," Zack answered. 

Jaylyn rolled her eyes. It was a robot. It wasn't alive in the first place. Plus, she liked the little thing. It was cute. She found all of this fascinating, if not a bit creepy. 

"Shouldn't hurt, but let's see," the robot muttered, on the other side of the circle. "Please, step into the footprints."

The six small platforms lit up with blue light. 

"No. We are not doing that," Jason muttered. 

"Hey, question. Um, what are you?" Billy asked. 

"I'm Alpha 5, an alphormic lorcaid persona android," it answered. 

"What?" Jaylyn asked. 

"He said he's a Alpha 5..." Billy started. 

"Yeah, I know," she hissed. 

"I'm a talking robot. You can trust me," Alpha 5 said. 

Billy shrugged and started to one of the platforms. All eyes were drawn to him. 

"Billy!" Jason hissed at him. 

Billy hesitantly put a foot on the blue platform, and when nothing bad happened, he hopped onto it. He looked around for a second before waving the others over. 

"What the hell?" Zack asked, walking to another platform. 

"Okay," Trini said as she and Kimberly went on opposite sides of the circle. 

"Why do you keep looking at each other?" Alpha 5 asked. "Is that, like, a human thing? Fascinating."

Trini and Kimberly stepped on at the same time. Jason made his way to another one, and all eyes turned to Jaylyn. She took a deep breath, stood up straight and walked to the remaining platform. The second she was on, the whole place started to turn on. 

"Oh, it's working! This is great! It's working!" Alpha 5 exclaimed. "Zordon, are you there? Zordon!"

"Alpha! Where are we?" Zordon said, his face composed in the wall behind Jaylyn, scaring her. He was speaking in his alien language. 

"Zordon, nice to hear your voice," Alpha 5 replied in the same language. 

"I can see you, Alpha... but I can't see me. Where am I?" Zordon asked. 

The six teenagers were crouching on their platforms, terrified. 

"You're inside the ship," Alpha 5 answered. 

"Okay. Okay," Jason said. 

"Sir, I sealed your essence into the ship's matrix," Alpha 5 explained. 

Five of the six teenagers were running to the door. 

"Jaylyn! Let's go!" Jason shouted. 

Jaylyn didn't move. She was curious about what was going on and wasn't about to leave any time soon until she got answers to her questions. Plus, she got the feeling the door would close. 

"But the ship is on?" Zordon asked. 

"The power coins have finally returned to the ship," Alpha 5 told him. 

The five that had run were stopped by the door closing in front of them. Jaylyn giggled as Billy knocked on the door. She realized she was right in thinking the door wouldn't let them through. She shook her head and turned back to Zordon. 

"Where are the coins?" he asked. "Where are the rangers?"

"Come forward, please!" Alpha 5 called out. 

"Do we have a choice?" Kimberly asked. 

"Don't think so," Jason answered.

As they turn around, Alpha 5 speaks to Zordon again. 

"They speak a primitive dialect called English. You'll find it in the ship's matrix," he said in the alien language. He then switched to English. "Look, it's Zordon!"

"What?" Zack whispered. 

"Zordon, they don't know who you are," Alpha 5 said to the face in the wall. 

The five were coming back down the stairs as Jaylyn continued to watch the face. 

"These are them? They're so small," Zordon observed. 

"Funny, I said the same thing, actually," Alpha 5 said. 

"You mean to tell me that the fate of the universe is placed in the hands of these-- these children?" Zordon asked. 

"The universe? That's a big place," Billy whispered. 

"They're teenagers," Alpha 5 corrected. "Somewhere between infancy and full maturity. It's hard to explain, really. I don't--"

"Show me the coins," Zordon demanded. 

All six teenagers pulled their own coin out of their pocket and held it up to the face of Zordon, which moved along the wall to get a better look. 

"The morphing grid is never wrong," Zordon said. "If the power coins have returned to the ship with these..."

The youngsters were looking at the coins for a second before putting them away. Zordon paused in his speech, trying to find the right word. 

"Teenagers!" Alpha 5 supplied. 

"With these teenagers, then these teenagers are the Power Rangers," Zordon continued. 

"Power Rangers!" Alpha 5 exclaimed, excited. 

Jaylyn frowned. This was a lot to take in already. Power coins, survive train wreck, super strength, far jump, drop into water, spaceship underground, talking robot, face in a wall, Power Rangers. She blinked a few times, trying to comprehend that her world, and the world of her friends, was about to turn upside down.


	11. Scared and Unsure

    Billy clapped slightly, seemingly excited as well, judging by his smile. The others were just plain confused.     

    "What?" Trini asked quietly. 

    "Okay, quick question," Zack started, causing Zordon to move along the wall to look at him. "Hello. Hate to interrupt. Did I just hear you say we're Power Rangers?"

    "Yes. Yes. You are the Power Rangers. Any other questions?" Zordon answered. 

    "No, I think I'm good," Zack replied. 

    "Good."

    "I got a question. Um... Hi, how you doing?" Billy said on the other side of the room, Zordon once again moving to look at him. "Oh, okay-- um, my name is Billy. Billy Cranston. Kids used to call me Billy Crams-tons--"

    "Billy! Stop," Jaylyn interrupted. 

    "I'm sorry," he apologizes to his friend. "Uh... the images here in this sphere tell a history of the Power Rangers," he said, turning to look at the multi-colored light sphere. "Looks like the Power Rangers were a team that protected life. And life is a bright light. Or... a piece of light?"

    "Yes. Yes, very good, Billy," Zordon praised. "It is called the Zeo Crystal."

    "Oh, I love this part. This is good," Alpha 5 exclaimed, throwing his metal arms in the air to emphasize his point. 

    "And every planet in the universe that has life has a piece of this crystal buried inside it," Zordon continued. 

    "Sixty-five million years ago, Zordon's team died defending the crystal here in what is now Angel Grove," Alpha 5 explained, gesturing to the light which was taking forms of different things to show the story of the crystal. 

    "The coins have chosen you six," Zordon said.     

    "Yes! I knew it!" Alpha 5 cried out. 

    "Now you must protect the Zeo Crystal and life on Earth," Zordon told them. 

    "Because... we... are the Power Rangers?" Jason asked hesitantly. 

    "He's smart," Alpha 5 said. 

    Jaylyn picked up a little sarcasm in Alpha 5's voice and smirked, hand over her mouth. Her attention was caught by Kimberly, who was shaking her head. 

    "I'm sorry, um, is this some kind of joke?" she asked. "Like, I'm standing here with a wet wedgie. My socks are soaked. We're squishing around in here. We're talking to a wall. I mean, guys..."

    "Silence!" Zordon shouted. 

    All six of them were suddenly suspended in mid-air, gasping. A sudden vision came into their minds. 

    They woke up in their house, hearing the front doors creaking. Opening them, they saw their town. Only difference: it was absolutely deserted. The second they stepped out of their house, they were in the middle of the road, looking around. 

    "Dig! Dig, Goldar!" a woman's raspy voice hissed on the wind. 

    In the distance, a large figure with wings appeared, smashing everything in its path. A dust cloud rushed at the six teenagers, all in their own separate visions of the same exact thing. A woman with a golden staff and glowing green coin was standing down the road. In seconds, she was standing in front of them. As they turned around, the teenagers found frozen civilians, all trying to shield themselves. However, they were completely grey, no color to be found. The woman got right in the faces of the six startled youngsters. She started gasping, drawing out the life within them. All six Power Rangers started to gasp for air as she basically seemed like she was going to bite their necks. One by one, the people the Power Rangers touched as they stumbled backward, crumbled into dust and ash, riding away on the wind. 

    The scene ended, and all six Power Rangers fell heavily onto the floor. Jaylyn was the most scared, barely conscious. The light sphere had once held many colors but was now a pure white. 

    "Sir, I'm detecting elevated heart rates," Alpha 5 observed as the light returned to the normal swirl of colors. "They're-- they're very scared."

    They all got to their feet, except Jaylyn. She didn't move an inch. She had had a panic attack and was unconscious. Jason and the others looked to her as Alpha 5 went over. 

    "Jaylyn, are you okay?" Alpha 5 asked. 

    There was no response. The other rangers started to panic. Alpha 5 looked up at Zordon. 

    "I think you went a little overboard with that, sir. She seems to have lost consciousness," Alpha 5 said. 

    "I don't understand. Why would you show us that nightmare? Not to mention, make Jaylyn pass out from fear?" Jason asked. 

    "It's not a nightmare. It's the future. And I didn't intend to have Jaylyn pass out. I was merely showing you what is to come. She will wake," Zordon answered. 

    Almost as soon as he spoke, Jaylyn stirred. She slowly sat up and looked around, face white as snow. Her eyes were wide and held fear in them. She managed to calm her racing heart and leaned back against the wall, listening to the conversation. 

    "Was that for real?" Kimberly asked.  

    "Felt like it," Trini answered. 

    "And who was that woman?" Jason asked. 

    "Her name is Rita Repulsa," Zordon answered before turning his attention to Jaylyn. "Are you alright? I assure you, I was not trying to scare you that much. I was showing you the future."

    "I'll be okay. I was taken by surprise and wasn't too happy with the result of said surprise," she replied quietly. 

    "Rita will create Goldar, a huge monster who will rip the crystal from the earth, and all life on your planet will die. With the crystal, Rita will have the power to create and destroy worlds," Zordon explained further.     

    "So, let me guess. You want us to kill this woman? R-- Rita?" Trini asked. 

    "Ay, ay, ay! Rita!" Alpha 5 said, covering his face. 

    "She must be stopped," Zordon said. 

    "When is she coming?" Kimberly asked. 

    "She's already here. My best guess is we have eleven months. Oh, I'm sorry, days. Days, eleven days," Alpha 5 replied. 

    "If we're the Power Rangers and this is our ship, if I walk through that door right now, will it open for me?" Trini asked. 

    "Yes, of course," Zordon answered. 

    Five of the six ran to and out the door. Zordon sighed as Alpha 5 tried to plead with them to stay. 

    "Whoa, what are you doing? No, no, no, come back! No. No, please, don't leave," Alpha 5 said. 

    "They're scared, Alpha," Jaylyn explained. "I might be scared too, but I understand the world is in danger. But I'm not sure what I can do. If they refuse to come, I won't be able to stop Rita alone."

    She stood up and started to walk off. 

    "Jaylyn, my ranger team died defending the crystal from Rita. That's why I'm in this wall," Zordon said, stopping Jaylyn in her tracks. 

    "How'd you know my name?" she asked, facing him. 

    "Because it's you, Jaylyn Forest," he replied, using the last name she had made for herself as she lived in the forest. "You are the leader. You are the Red Ranger."

    Turning around, she saw the light turn red and saw a ranger within it. It changed to green to show another ranger: Green. She held a golden staff in her hand. 

    "Rita was a ranger, too. And my friend. But she betrayed us. Wanted more power. She lost her way. Now she is just pure evil," Zordon said, the girl staying silent. "You must bring them back. All of the rangers. You must train your team to stop Rita before she has the strength to find the crystal."

    "Okay. I'm leaving for now," Jaylyn said, turning and walking away. "And I only speak for myself when I--"

    "No! You speak for all of them. You know that, deep down, what I'm saying is true. You were born for this," Zordon called out. 

    Jaylyn nodded and exited the ship, wandering back to the water pool. She turned a corner and stopped, seeing her companions. 

    "You all waited," she said. "Even you."

    Here, she looked at Trini, who was sitting down with her headphones and phone out of her bag. 

    "Who... exactly are you?" Jason asked.  

    "Really? Now you're gonna ask me who I am?" Trini shot back. 

    "Look, her name is Didi," Zack said. 

    "Trini," she corrected. 

    "She's new at school. Transferred in a month ago. We have English together, right?" Kimberly asked, turning to her at the end. 

    "I've been at Angel Grove for over a year now. We have biology together. Good talk," she said, packing up and standing. 

    "Wait, look..." Jaylyn started, "none of us really know each other, okay? But somehow, we were all in the same place at the same time when Billy found those coins. And..."

    "Wait, wait, wait! Can I asked a question?" Billy interrupted, standing up. "Are we really superheroes? Like are we more like Iron Man or Spider-Man? 'Cause I feel like I've been bit by a spider, but I feel really good, you know, not as..."

    "All right, look, bro, trust me, you're not a superhero," Zack said, chuckling.     

    "Why are you talking to us like you're the boss now?" Trini asked Jaylyn. 

    "Hey, hold up. Can any of this Rita stuff be real?" Kimberly asked. "Can any of it be true?"

    Jaylyn sighed. "I don't know. But I know that the answer to what's wrong with us and what's happening to us... is here," she said, turning to face the ship's direction. 

    She turned back to face the others as they stood in silence for a few moments. 

    "So what are you saying?" Kimberly asked her. 

    "I think we gotta come back. I can't make you come back here. But 4:00 tomorrow... I'll be here," Jaylyn answered as they all stared at her like she was insane. 

    "Hey, Jaylyn, we don't-- we don't--" Billy started as she walked forward so she was under the water. 

    She jumped straight up into the water, drops raining down on their heads. They coughed and spluttered as they got the water out of their mouths. 

    "That makes sense. That makes sense," Billy muttered. 

    "Of course," Zack said. 

    "I don't know why I didn't think about that one in the first place," Billy continued. 

    One by one, they shot through the water and left.


	12. Trying to Understand

    Thunder rumbled across the sky, rain pouring down onto the trailer which was Zack's home. He got out a few medicine bottles and closed the cabinet door. He poured some pills into his hand, transferring them to a small plastic cup. He set the cup on a tray which held orange juice and a plate of cookies. Picking up the tray, he made his way to his mother's room. 

    She lay in bed, eyes closed. Zack placed the tray at the foot of the bed before moving to help his mother sit up, putting pillows behind her head. 

    "You came in so late today," she said in Mandarin. 

    "Relax, mom. Stay in bed, just sit up a little bit, okay?" Zack asked. 

    "I was happy just to know you'd come home."

    Zack sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed the tray. He handed it to her as she spoke again. 

    "You're going to school, right?" she asked. 

    He stayed silent. 

    "Zack, you didn't answer me," she pointed out. 

    "Make sure you take these," he told her, changing the subject and pointing to the pills. 

    He stood and left the room. 

    Trini walked into her dining room, where her family sat. Her mother instantly started throwing questions at her. 

    "So where were you today? Were you with friends? Do you have any friends? Why are you so tired--" she started. 

    "Okay, this is the problem," her husband stated, stopping her. "You ask her four questions before she's even answered the first."

    Two young boys were sitting across from their mother, watching their conversation like a tennis match. Trini sat at one end of the table with her father across from her. 

    "Because she's like a ghost around here. She needs to start communicating," her mother said, enunciating her point with her hands as she turned to look back at Trini. 

    "June..." the father warned. 

    "Say something," June said, ignoring her husband and speaking to Trini, who looked away. 

    When she didn't answer, June lost patience.     

    "Speak!" she demanded, slamming her hands on the table and startling her sons, who jumped. "I just--"

    "Relax," her husband soothed. 

    "Okay. Relax," June repeated. 

    Trini threw her banana on the table as she stared at it. Her father took over with the questions. 

    "Okay, Trini, let's start over," he started. 

    She gave a very small smile and folded her hands around her knees. 

    "Please tell us one thing you did today," he continued. 

    All eyes were now on Trini. She seemed to think for something interesting before settling with talking about the new development. 

    "Me and five kids from Angel Grove found a spaceship buried underground," she stated, pausing. 

    "What?" June asked, sounding faint. 

    Trini's brothers stared at her in shock and awe. She smiled again. She spoke casually, as though she found spaceships every day. 

    "I'm pretty sure I'm a superhero," she added. 

    June looked at her husband in disbelief. Her brothers shared an amazed look before speaking simultaneously. 

    "Cool," they whispered. 

    "Not cool," June said, standing up and grabbing something. 

    She came over and stood next to Trini before slamming something onto the table. A small medical cup.     

    "Pee in that cup!" June exclaimed. 

    Trini looked at it in disgust and then up at her mother in disbelief. 

    Jason stood in his garage, hand on the hood of the banged up truck from the cow prank. His father walked out, and Jason turned to him. 

    "This to remind me of my screw-up?" Jason asked. 

    "No," Sam sighed. "Wrecking yard only offered me 300 bucks for it and... you know, the frame's straight and the engine still runs. Figure I'd leave it up to you to decide if you wanted to fix it."

    Jason merely looks at his dad before a police car stops in front of their house. 

    "Oh, shit," Sam said quietly, walking up to the car. 

    "Mr. Scott, there's been an incident on you boat. It's a terrible situation. You gotta come with me," the cop said, rolling down the window. 

    Jaylyn walked up at the moment the car was pulling away. Frowning, she went up to Jason. 

    "What's that all about?" she asked. 

    "No idea," he answered.


	13. Welcome to Training, Rangers

    "A series of grisly crime scenes has the sleepy fishing hamlet of Angel Grove reeling," a newscaster explained. "Bodies were discovered..."

    Gnarled hands ran over gold-covered teeth that had been pulled out of people's mouths. 

    "I'm building Goldar for you..." a woman's voice said as she grabbed more human flesh and bit into it. 

    "This rash of violence has the town on edge," the newscaster went on. 

    A homeless man was walking through the boatyard, listening to rock music. He came upon the woman and stopped. 

    "Goldar's coming. Goldar's coming," the woman said in a singsong voice. "Goldar's coming. Goldar's coming."

    "What the hell you doing?" the man asked her. 

    "I need gold. I will build my beautiful Goldar," she answered. "Goldar takes the Zeo Crystal. I take the universe," she continued in that singsong voice again. 

    She paid the man no attention as she concentrated on the gold teeth and other gold items before her. 

    "Me, too!" the man said before laughing. 

    The woman turns around, revealing herself to be Rita Repulsa. Rita catches sight of the man's gold teeth and attacks him, slamming him into an old boat and killing him. His screams echoed in the boatyard. 

    4:00 came that next day, Jaylyn standing on the edge of the cliff, waiting. The other five came up and over the hill to meet her, deciding to see what was going on. She turned and smiled at them, backing up to the edge. 

    "What's up, crazy girl?" Zack asked as Trini walked up. 

    "Hey," she greeted. 

    "Shall we do this?" Jaylyn asked. 

    They all nodded. They jumped in and swam to the bottom, dropping down with more grace this time. Returning to the room in the ship they were in before, they stood before Zordon. 

    "You need to follow the three rules to being a Power Ranger. You must never use your powers for personal gain. You must never escalate a fight, unless your enemy forces you to. And you must never reveal your identity. Ever," Zordon explained. "To assume your ranger identities, you need to morph. Have any of you morphed before?"

    "Yes. But only in the shower," Zack said. 

    "Shut it, Zack! You're so inappropriate," Jaylyn hissed, hitting him in the back of the head as the others snickered. 

    She shot them all warning glares, and they shut up. 

    "Okay, okay. Let's step into the footprints, please," Alpha 5 said. "Let's try this."

    They all stepped up to the platforms and stood there, waiting for more instructions. 

    "Standing in this circle as a team, you can easily connect to the morphing grid. Do you feel it?" Zordon asked. 

    "Yeah, they do," Alpha 5 answered for them. 

    "No. Not feeling it," Zack stated. 

    "You need to morph to get your armor," Zordon said. 

    Billy gasped and called his hands together, excited. 

    "I knew it! We do get armor. Jason! We get armor!" he exclaimed, gesturing to himself and his friend. "Oh, we get armor," he corrected, gesturing to everyone. 

    "Cool. When do you give us the armor?" Zack asked, spreading his arms. 

    "You already have it inside of you," Zordon answered. 

    Billy looked at himself, as though expecting it to pop out and reveal itself. 

    "You bring it out by connecting to each other and connecting to the morphing grid. Clear your minds and focus," the former Red Ranger said. 

    All six closed their eyes and concentrated. They didn't really know what to concentrate on, though Jaylyn had the feeling to concentrate on her team. The swirl of colors started to vibrate and move faster. 

    "Power Rangers were a legion of warriors sworn to protect life," Zordon continued. 

    "Yes!" Alpha 5 exclaimed. 

    "You must become those warriors," Zordon said, ignoring the interruption. 

    "Become the warriors!" Alpha 5 encouraged. 

    Jaylyn focused on her team and the world. Protecting the world would be no easy feat, but she had the feeling it would be successful if they worked as one. She felt something spread across her back and opened her eyes to find red armor moving up her arms and down her legs. A mask covered her face as she looked at her team. They had their eyes closed, trying to morph. She giggled a bit as she watched them. Alpha 5 seemed ecstatic, but Jaylyn put a finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet. The swirl of colors suddenly froze, making everyone open their eyes. 

    "Oh, my God," Trini said, noticing Jaylyn first. 

    All eyes turned to her, making her smile behind the mask. The mask melted away to reveal her face. 

    "How? What did you think of?" Jason asked. 

    "You must figure it out yourself," she answered wisely. "Find the right thing to focus on."

    "Jaylyn is correct. You must figure it out on your own," Zordon agreed. 

    "This might take some time for the others to learn to morph," Alpha 5 interjected. 

    "We don't have time," Zordon pointed out. 

    "If they can't morph, what are we supposed to do?" Alpha 5 asked. 

    "They'll have to train without armor. Jaylyn will be protected. The others will need to learn without," Zordon concluded. "They need to prepare."

    "Without armor?" Alpha 5 wondered. "Sir, that'll be very painful."

    Jaylyn frowned. This didn't sound good at all. At least she would be safe. She would do her best to help out her team. 

    "Take them down to the pit," Zordon said. 

    "Alright, follow me. We're going to the pit!" Alpha 5 said, defeated. 

    "How did you get so lucky?" Jason hissed. 

    "I wasn't lucky. I focused on the right thing," she answered simply. 

    "Jaylyn, I don't wanna find out what the pit is," Billy whispered. 

    "You don't have a choice," Jaylyn pointed out. 

    Grumbling, they followed the android to a rocky room with sand on the floor. 

    "So this is the pit. It's nice, right?" Alpha 5 asked. 

    "Alpha 5, begin the exercise," Zordon's voice said. 

    "Uh... sorry, guys," he said. 

    "What exercise?" Jason asked. 

    "Chill out, dude," Zack said. 

    Slowly, rocks gathered together to form humanoid shapes with two heads and multiple arms. 

    "These creatures before you are a simulation of Rita's army. They're called Putties. You must get through them to get to her," Zordon explained. 

    "No, no, no, no, Jason," Billy whispered. 

    "Cool. Look, relax, guys. It's a hologram," Zack said, walking forward. "Like a video game. Look."

    He stood in front of the Putty and suddenly got punched. He went flying to the side and hit the ground, hard. Jaylyn winced. 

    "That's a strong-ass hologram," Billy said with a slight nervous chuckle. 

    Trini laughed openly at Zack. 

    "Not a video game," he said hoarsely. 

    "I feel bad for you guys," she admitted. 

    "This is why you must morph into your armor. If Rita becomes strong enough to build her army, it'll be the beginning of the end. Rangers, welcome to training," Zordon said.


	14. P.R.I.T.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N P.R.I.T. stands for Power Rangers in Training

"Aim for the center mass," Alpha 5 said as Jason charged a Putty. 

Jason doesn't move fast enough and gets punched. Groaning, he falls to the ground. 

"One more time," Alpha 5 sighed. "Come on, duck the punches. Find their weak side."

This was the second attempt for Jason. He dodged the punches, grabbed the Putty and tried to take it down. It slammed its elbow into his back, causing him to land on the ground. The team went to practice with each other instead of the Putties all the time. 

"Let's go a couple o' hits, okay?" Jason asked, facing Billy. "Hit one..."

He threw two punches at Billy, who blocked them with his arms. Jason stopped and sighed. 

"No, let's try again," he said. 

"Now this is exciting," Alpha 5 said as he watched Trini and Zack go at it. 

Zack swung a punch at Trini. She grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to punch him in the gut. She swung him around and grabbed him in a headlock. 

"Yeah, Trini," Alpha 5 complimented. 

Jason threw a punch at Kimberly, who grabbed his arm and flipped him onto his back. Billy decided to go up against Alpha 5. They bowed to each other. 

"Hai," they said. 

"Ready, Master Billy?" Alpha 5 asked. 

Billy nodded and promptly got punched in the face. The blow sent him spinning around. 

"You need to learn the element of surprise," Alpha 5 instructed, punching Billy in the stomach. 

Jason and Billy switched places. 

"Ready? Let's go again," Jason said. 

"Billy, lighter on your feet," Alpha 5 said as he dodged his punches. 

Jason and Billy were getting faster and better slowly but surely. 

"Hands up," Alpha 5 instructed. 

"I won't be home too late," Zack said to his mother one day in Mandarin. 

The bell rung in school, making Kimberly look over her shoulder at Trini, who looked back at her. 

"Play with some energy now! Let's go!" a football coach shouted as Jason watched from the sidelines. 

He walked off and returned to the ship. Day after day, they returned. Even though she had the armor advantage, it didn't help as Jaylyn had no clue where to punch, how hard to punch it, when to move, nothing. She watched as her friends got tossed around, receiving minor injuries. The armor protected her from getting hurt, but not from being knocked down like the others. 

"Focus! Focus! Everybody just focus!" Alpha 5 yelled. 

Trini crawled underneath a Putty and kicked it in the place where the sun doesn't shine. 

"Lucky shot," Zack told her. 

"You all know you could be murdered, right? Jaylyn has the armor advantage for not getting hurt, but it does nothing with helping you know how to fight," Alpha 5 said, crossing his arms. 

"Not helping," Jaylyn muttered, picking herself up. 

Each day, Jason would carve a line to mark how many days they had been there by dragging a rock on another one to keep track. Sitting in a cafe, Trini, Kimberly, and Jaylyn sat at a table. Trini stabbed a piece of chocolate roll on her fork. Kimberly looked at her and tried to stab it too. Trini pulled the napkin away from her, causing a small fight to break out. 

Kimberly moved her fork to get it, but Trini moved the napkin again and grabbed her wrist. Kimberly grabbed the hand holding her wrist as Trini moved the napkin to be directly in front of her. Trini lifted her fork, which still had the chocolate roll on it, as Kimberly took Trini's other hand off her wrist. Kimberly and Trini let go of the others' hand as Trini's right hand tilted and came up with the fork. Kimberly had her fork in her right hand as well. She stabbed the fork on Trini's right side, just missing her friend's fork. Trini held up the roll in front of her face as Kimberly moved her fork up as well. Jaylyn watched in amusement, waiting for the right moment. Kimberly moved her free hand up to grab Trini's right wrist. Trini switched her fork to her left hand to avoid it getting taken by Kimberly. Kimberly swung her fork towards her friend's face as Trini placed the handle of the fork on the surface of the table. Trini's left arm swung up under Kimberly's right arm, forcing it up and over. They moved their forks towards each others' faces for a split second before Kimberly brought her right arm down on Trini's left. She reached for Trini's fork only to be slapped away by her opponent. Trini went to bite the roll when Kimberly's hand came up and stopped her. 

"No," she said sternly. 

Trini grabbed Kimberly's hand and forced it to the side. Kimberly moved her fork to hit Trini's hand only to find it was no longer there. Trini now had her fork back in her hand. Kimberly grabbed it above Trini's and took it from her. Trini's right hand reached out and was blocked by Kimberly's left. Kimberly held up the roll in front of her, waiting for the next move. Trini grabbed the fork above Kimberly's hand and took it from her grasp. Kimberly knocked Trini's hand up, causing the fork to go flying in the air. Both Trini and Kimberly stood up to get it while Jaylyn watched with a smirk. Kimberly's hand was closest to the fork as it started to fall. She was knocked aside by Trini as she made a grab for it. The fork fell in Trini's right hand as Kimberly's left reached up to block Trini from bringing the fork to her mouth. Kimberly brought Trini's arm to the table in front of her, both sitting down. That's when Jaylyn made her move. Quick as lightning, her hand shot out and snatched the fork away, shoving the roll in her mouth before it could be taken. 

"Hey!" Kimberly cried. 

Jaylyn shrugged. Back in the ship, they were trying to morph. Since she had done it before, Jaylyn found it easy. The others, not so much. 

"You must shed your masks to wear this armor," Zordon said. 

"I don't feel anything," Billy said. 

Another failed attempt. Zack groaned in annoyance. 

"Take them down to the pit," Zordon ordered. 

"Now watch me..." Alpha 5 started, going up against a miniature Putty. "Slip, grab, lift."

He sidestepped the Putty, stood beside it, grabbed it around the middle, and lifted it up over his shoulder before slamming it into the ground and shattering it. He turned to the others. 

"Yeah!" he said, pointing to it. 

The rangers tried this technique and found it worked great. Now knowing how to fight, Jaylyn mastered the move easily. One by one, the other rangers got a good hold on it all. Kimberly and Trini stood back-to-back, ready to fight. Trini ducked under the punches of the Putty she was going up against as Kimberly did the same. 

"Move your feet," Jaylyn called out. 

At the same time, Kimberly and Trini defeated their Putties. Back in detention school, Kimberly made a note and folded it up, sending it flying to Jason. He caught it, looked at it and flung it to Billy. He opened it to see writing that said 'WE SHOULD START A BAND' in bubble letters. Billy crumpled the note and flung it at Colt Wallace, knocking him out of his chair with a grunt. Billy snickered. 

"Think only of each other, and the morphing grid will open to you," Zordon instructed. 

"Is it working?" Kimberly asked. 

"No, it's not," Trini answered. 

Jaylyn standing on her platform, already morphed and there for support and help for the others to morph as well. 

"Come on. Try harder!" Trini encouraged. 

Jason picked himself up off the floor of the pit, having been knocked over again by a Putty. 

"Let's just concentrate," Jason said back in the morphing room. 

Jason was getting beaten in the pit once more while the others watched. 

"I've been concentrating though, Jason," Trini pointed out, getting frustrated with not being able to morph. 

"'Cause we haven't been concentrating..." Zack said. "All we need to do is just concentrate."

Jason put another mark on the wall. 

"Don't tell me to concentrate," Jason said. 

Jaylyn sighed, not wanting to listen to this. 

"Arguing isn't going to solve the problem, guys," she said, sighing. 

"Just follow my lead," Zack said, ignoring her. 

"Let's not fight with each other," Billy told them, listening to Jaylyn. 

More marks were scratched into the wall outside the ship as they entered each day for training. 

"Zack, now is not the time," Trini told him. 

They all grew frustrated quickly with not morphing, making Jaylyn sigh. They looked over their injuries a bit, wincing. 

"Come on. Let's go train," Alpha 5 said, walking passed them. 

All eyes turned to Alpha 5 as he walked by. 

"The information we need to triangulate the location of the crystal was lost in the battle. So--" Alpha 5 started before seeing that Billy wasn't paying attention. 

He was writing in his notebook, looking up at the sphere of light a few times. 

"Billy, are you listening to me? Billy, what are you doing? Billy!"

Back at his house, Billy had maps and string all across his basement room. Hanging from a pipe in the ceiling, he managed to keep himself up as he looked across a map. 

"Where's the crystal? Find it, Billy, find it," he mumbled to himself. "Where's the crystal? There."

He puts a pin in the map and smiles. He gets down and goes in search of the crystal.


	15. Billy's First Morph

"One, two... Okay, 17 degrees north..." Billy mutters, looking at his map. 

He doesn't notice he's in the middle of the street, even with people yelling and honking horns. 

"Hey, idiot, watch where you're going!" a driver yells. 

"One, two, three..." Billy continues. 

"Wake up!" another driver shouts. 

A car drives around him and continues on. Two other cars were there as well. Billy looks up and smiles. He heads to the sidewalk and goes to Krispy Kreme. 

"Two fishermen were laid to rest today at Saint Andrew's Cemetery. Residents of Angel Grove are feeling the shock. Fear has the town on edge," a newscaster said. 

Jason and Jaylyn were with their families at the funeral in the cemetery. They looked off to the side to see Kimberly standing under a tree. 

"This series of murders has police baffled as police have linked the loss of gold to each crime scene," the woman kept on. 

Billy was watching the news while eating his cereal, listening intently. 

"What is now being dubbed 'Angel Grove's Gold Killer' is still on the loose," she said. 

"...Rita managed to create Goldar--" Alpha 5 said, jumping off a rock. "Are you listening to me? And he rips the crystal from the ground, it'll be like 10,000 nuclear bombs washing over Earth."

The Rangers were following the android to a cavern. 

"That supposed to freak us out?" Zack asked. 

"You keep making this harder. We're busting our asses. Feel free to throw us a bone at some point," Jason told Alpha 5. 

Jaylyn face-palmed and sighed. Jason glanced at her for a split second. 

"Yes, I see you busting your 'asses.' So I've decided to give you some inspiration," Alpha 5 said. 

Billy clapped excitedly as they continued to follow the little robot. 

"What you will find beyond this wall will forever change your lives," Alpha 5 continued. 

Climbing up a rock, they scuttled up. Wondering what could be so life-changing, their pace quickened. 

"Come on," Alpha 5 told them, reaching the top and gesturing for them to follow. 

Gasps of surprise and shock could be heard from the rangers. Six giant machines stood there, slowly powering up with their rangers nearby. Standing on top of the rock, they all moved slightly closer. Alpha 5 turned to them and nodded. 

"The Zords!" he explained. "Pretty cool, right?"

"Yeah," Billy said. 

"They take on the form of the most powerful organisms on the planet. When these Zords formed, dinosaurs reigned supreme," Alpha 5 said. 

The Zords powered up and turned to their rangers. A red T-Rex, a yellow Sabertooth Tiger, a blue Triceratops, a pink Pteranodon, a purple Pterodactyl, and a black Mastadon. They had the colors of their rangers, showing which belonged to who. 

"They will be an extension of you. And their power... is all but limitless," Alpha 5 continued. "But you're not ready for this power. When you morph, your armor makes you one with the Zords. The only one who is, as of this moment, is Jaylyn. However, she will wait until you are ready. So come on, let's go train. Today's the day you become rangers! I can feel it!"

Alpha 5 led the way as the others followed. However, one stayed behind. Zack was eager to try out the Zord. He broke out of the mountainside, and his Zord roared out. Yelling, Zack sat in the cockpit of the metal creature, trying to figure out how to control it. 

"This was a bad idea," he said. "Okay, okay, uh, signals, brakes."

His Zord was going all over the place, out of control. 

"Brakes, I need brakes!" Zack yelled as the Zord jumped over a ridge in the mountains. "Manual. Man-u-al. Where are the brakes-- Alpha 5!" 

He screamed as the Zord crashed back to the ground. 

"Ahh! Oh, crap!" Zack shouted. "Hey! Move! Move!"

He had spotted a van riding down the road in front of him. He waved his hand in a 'move over' motion, but of course, they didn't see him. 

"Out of the way!" Zack yelled. 

The Zord crashed into the road behind the van, which held a group of nuns who were singing 'Go Tell It On The Mountains' and who were completely oblivious to the metal creature. 

Meanwhile, in the ship, the rangers were walking back to the pit. 

"You have to remember that in today's training lesson the important this is to--" Alpha 5 started before turning around. "Wait. Where's Zack?"

"Seriously?" Jaylyn asked. 

A sudden crash made everyone gasp. Zack and his Zord were crashing through the wall. 

"Run, run, run! Run!" Alpha 5 shouted. 

All turned and ran away from the Zord as it came sliding towards them, trying to stop. 

"Run! Run!" Alpha 5 repeated. 

Zack was yelling in the seat of his Zord. A dust cloud had been created by the Zord and was headed towards the other rangers. They started climbing the rocks as Jaylyn let the mask of her armor cover her face to protect against the dust. The dust cloud washed over them seconds later, followed by a wind that knocked them down. Coughing and groaning, the others picked themselves up. 

"You alright?" Kimberly asked. 

"Ay, ay, ay!" Alpha 5 spluttered, shaking dust off of himself. 

Zack climbed out and walked over. 

"Alright, my bad, my bad. That's on me, right there," he said. 

"What's your problem?" Trini asked. 

"You could've killed yourself. Or us," Jason pointed out, jumping off the rock and storming over. 

Zack got onto the same flat area and glared at Jason. He shoved Jason behind him. 

"Back off, second in command," Zack hissed. 

"Hey!" Jason yelled. 

He spun Zack around and punched him. 

"Oh, come on, guys. Wow," Billy said. 

"Guys, guys, guys, come on!" Trini shouted, coming forward to stop the fight. 

"Watch it!" Zack snarled, shoving her away. 

"Wait. What are you doing?" Alpha 5 asked. 

Billy was watching the fight. Jaylyn had turned her head, sighing. Kimberly and Trini stood to the side, not knowing what to do. Billy rushed forward and shoved the two apart. 

"Just stop fighting, please!" Billy yelled. 

The others smiled at their friend, who had his eyes closed. Jaylyn had the biggest smile of all. 

"What?" Billy asked, unaware of his new armor. 

"That's dope," Trini said. 

"What? I got something on my f--" Billy continued. 

He lifted his hand to wipe his face and stopped. His hand was covered in the same material as Jaylyn's only yellow. He looked himself over, amazed. 

"Yeah!" Zack praised. 

"Whoa!" Billy exclaimed. "Okay, now that's cool! Oh, yeah!"

"Hold still," Zack said, moving forward, hand outstretched to touch it. 

"Don't touch it. Zack, don't touch it," Billy told him. "Zack, do not touch it."

Zack didn't even touch the armor, but it melted away, leaving regular old Billy. 

"Where'd it go? Bring it back," Zack demanded. "Bring it back, dude."

"Get out," Zordon said. "Training is over for today. Go home."

"I'm sorry. He just morphed," Kimberly stated. "He did it. You saw it, right?'

"Do it again," Zordon instructed. "All of you. Any of you. Jaylyn doesn't count. She has already morphed."

"Billy. How'd you do it, Billy?" Jason asked. 

"Come on, Billy, let's do it," Zack said. 

They all turned to Billy, waiting. 

"Show us what you did," Jason told him. 

"Come on. Do it again," Zack encouraged. 

"Shut up, you two. Let him concentrate," Jaylyn hissed. 

Billy closed his eyes, trying to concentrate. Jaylyn frowned but said nothing. 

"Do it again!" Zack said. 

"I'm trying, I'm trying! I can't focus!" Billy snapped back, not opening his eyes. 

"Billy, how'd you do it? Show us," Jason whispered. 

Billy opened his eyes and turned to his friend, shrugging. All seemed disappointed. Jaylyn knew it wouldn't be easy. Jason sighed and turned to talk to Zordon. 

"Okay, we don't know how. Except for Jaylyn, of course," Jason said, defeated. 

"That's what I thought," Zordon answered. "If you can't morph, you are not rangers. Go home. All of you." 

"Now what?" Jason asked. 

All the others looked down. Jaylyn allowed her armor to retreat inside her.

"Damn," Zack muttered, wiping his face. 

"Seriously?" Kimberly asked, sighing. 

They all turned and left the ship, Jaylyn looking around one last time. Alpha 5 looked at her and shook his head. She frowned and left with the others. Her team needed to morph, and soon. Rita could be out there and getting closer to creating Goldar. Jaylyn was determined to get her team ready for the final battle.


	16. Argument and Fenix Jewelers

They walked down the slope, heading back home. However, Zack had a different plan that night. 

"Hey, guys..." he started, making everyone look at him. "Guys, look, uh... I'ma stay up here tonight. Make a fire. I got some food if you guys wanna stay," he offered. 

"I'm down," Trini said, making her way back to him. 

The others agreed. Jaylyn had returned to the ship, coming within earshot of Zordon and Alpha 5. 

"Jaylyn's team is failing. I shall destroy Rita myself," Zordon said. "There must be a way to free me from this wall."

"Yes, but the irony is, is that you need these rangers to morph. If they morph, you can harness that energy to regenerate your body and come back through," Alpha 5 explained. 

"There's got to be another way! I can't--" Zordon started only to be cut off. 

"What, Zordon! You can't what?" Jaylyn asked, coming to the top of the stairs. 

Zordon and Alpha 5 looked up at her in shock. She was normally the calm one of the group. To hear her tone of voice now was shocking to them. She started down the stairs. 

"Wait for us dumb kids to morph so that you can come back to life? That's what all this has been about, right? You coming back?" Jaylyn accused. 

Zordon moved along the wall to look at her. 

"This has only ever been about protecting the crystal," he said. "Rita could be building Goldar as we speak."

"Don't underestimate me or my team," Jaylyn snapped, getting angry. 

"You can't stop him. She will have him dig up the crystal and life on Earth will die."

"And we need you. Because you were so successful at stopping her last time."

"I died burying those coins in hopes that they would find the next real rangers. Those who are worthy."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you," Jaylyn yelled. 

She felt insulted and hurt. It showed in her eyes. Zordon realized what he had said but she didn't give him a chance to apologize as she stormed back to the stairs. 

"I don't need to stand here and have you tell me what I did wrong. I can go home and get that," she snapped. 

"Jaylyn, you need me out of this wall. To help lead this team!" Zordon yelled. 

"Your team's dead. And you're just as scared as we are," she said quietly before walking off. 

Alpha 5 had been silent, watching the argument. He shook his head and sighed quietly. 

Back in Angel Grove, the sun was setting, casting pink and orange clouds dancing around. Two people were in a jewelry store. A man and what appeared to be his fiancé. 

"These... are all 24 karat gold bands," the store woman said. 

The door opens, causing the bell to chime. 

"Hello, I'll be right with you," the woman said, looking up briefly from the rings. 

"There at the top of your budget," the fiancé said. 

A new woman entered the store, black hair and golden staff. Rita. Walking barefoot across the floor, she made her way to the front counter. 

"I'll get you anything you want," the man said. 

"Aw. You're so sweet," his fiancé replied with a chuckle. 

The store woman looked at the newcomer, and her eyes widened. 

"Get my cookie anything she wants," the man continued. 

Rita came to a stop at the counter, green power coin in one hand and her staff in the other. Her face was a bad mix of tan and grayish white. Blue eyes shone through the skin. She slammed the coin onto the counter, laying the staff next to it. The woman looked over her future husband's shoulder and widened her eyes in fear. 

"I'll be right back," the store woman said hesitantly. 

Rita ran her black curved nails over her staff as the woman stopped in front of her. 

"Uh... can I help you?" she asked, nervously. 

"Gold," Rita answered, tilting her head to the side. "I'm interested... in gold."

"Yeah," the woman said, shaking her head slightly and heading over to a cabinet. 

She crouched down below the counter and fumbled around, feeling for the emergency button. She pressed it and continued looking for the gold pieces that she was asked to get. Rita tapped her long nails on the counter, her power ring rotating ever so slightly. The woman stood back up with a box of gold jewelry. 

"We have some very nice pieces here," she said, placing the box in front of Rita. 

Rita grabbed a gold necklace from her and put it in her mouth, eating it. The woman stared in shock and disgust. As soon as Rita swallowed, gold light shone on her face, making it look younger. The woman stared in disbelief. 

"Come closer," Rita ordered. 

The woman hesitantly leaned forward. 

"Closer. Closer. Closer," she said. 

"Oh..." the woman gasped. 

Rita opened the woman's mouth and looked around for gold teeth. She spotted the necklace she wore and picked it up. 

"This. Give it to me!" Rita snarled. 

"Of course!" the woman said, quickly fumbling with the clasp and handing it over. "Okay. Here you go."

Rita snatched it and crushed it in her hand, turning it to liquid gold. The gold landed on her staff, forming more of it. The woman gasped and watched in shock. 

"Grow," Rita whispered, running her hand out to shape the staff's handle. "Grow. More!"

Rita looked up at the woman, who gave her more. Rita completed her staff and looked at it. She picked up her coin and was about to put it in the holder when the door opened behind her. 

"Police! Don't move!" the officer shouted. "Drop your... weapon, and put your hands on your head. Do it now! Do what I say, lady!" 

Rita looked over her shoulder slightly and smiled. The officer was holding his gun up and ready. The store woman had her hands up as she backed away. Rita turned her back to the officer as she raised one hand, pointing her index finger to the ceiling. 

"Lady... I like the sound of 'lady,'" she admitted. 

"Get on the ground and you won't get hurt," the officer demanded. 

Rita cackled and turned around. The officer instantly shot her, sending her backwards. She crashed through the counter behind her and fell to the floor. Rita's eyes flew open, and she took a deep breath. 

"Unit five, I need backup at Fenix Jewelers," the officer said in his radio. "Shots fired. I repeat, shots fired."

Rita picked up her staff and coin. She slammed the coin in the holder, and she is restored. 

"Get down!" the officer shouted to the other people in the store. 

Rita stands up, revealing her outfit. A black skirt to her knees, a ripped mid-riff top and black sleeves from the elbow down. The glass behind her broke as she waved her hand. The things she waved her hands at flew into the air and walked towards the officer. He shot at her, and she deflected it, sending it crashing into something else. 

"It's been too long since I raised my beautiful creatures," she said. "Did you miss me?"

A Putty grew out of the ground behind her 

"Oh, my God," the officer whispered. 

"Kill him!" Rita ordered. 

The Putty snarled and killed the man. As Rita walked out of the store, it blew up. And that was the end of the officer, the store woman, the man and his fiancé. The end of Fenix Jewelers.


	17. Truth

Sitting around a fire, were five of the six rangers. 

"If I weren't stuck in this wall, I would eat that junk food!" Zack said, trying to imitate Zordon. "What happened back there?"

Jaylyn had just walked up, staring blankly at the fire. She turned to look at Zack, shaking her head. 

"Nothing. Don't worry about it," she answered, sitting down. 

"Billy, how'd you do it?" Jason asked. "How'd you morph?" 

"I don't know," Billy answered, looking around. 

"What were you guys thinking about when we're trying to morph?" Jaylyn asked the team. 

"You must shed your masks to wear this armor," Kimberly imitated, throwing a piece of wood on the fire. 

The rangers chuckled, except Jaylyn. She didn't see what was so funny about it. The talk with Zordon had dampened her usual cheerful mood. 

"Think only of each other and the morphing grid will open to you," Billy tried. 

"Yeah, that's better," Kimberly agreed. 

"Well, maybe it's because we don't know each other," Zack suggested. "Maybe thats why we can't morph."

Billy threw his jacket to Kimberly to keep her warm. The others weren't so sure about Zack's suggestion. 

"Okay," Kimberly said. 

"No, I'm serious. Let's do this. For real," he replied, standing up. 

"What?" Kimberly mouths at Jaylyn. 

"I'm Zack," Zack started. "And I am a Power Ranger."

Everyone minus Jaylyn laughed. She decided to stay out of the conversation altogether. 

"Hi, Zack," the rest said. 

"Truth: I live in the Melody Mobile Home Park," Zack continued. "It's just me and my mom. And my mom? My mom is the best!" he yelled, his voice echoing. "But my mom, she's sick. I do what I can, but... but I'm scared. Sometimes I get too scared to stay there at night, 'cause... 'cause I'm afraid she can't make it."

Everyone was looking at him in sympathy. Jaylyn didn't look at him, though. She was staring at the stars, thinking of her own family that had abandoned her for no reason at all. She felt anger, sadness, and disappointment in her heart at the thought. 

"And if she goes... when she goes, I got nobody else," Zack continued. "Look, I think being with you guys is good for me."

"Let's do that," Billy said, after a moment of silence. "Let's tell our secrets. It'll-- it'll help us. Okay, I got a secret."

Billy stood up, candy bar in one hand. He paused for a moment before going on. 

"I like country music."

"What?" Trini chuckles. 

"No, matter of fact, I love country music," Billy corrected. 

Everyone laughed. Again, Jaylyn didn't react at all. 

"And I don't... I don't miss my dad as much. I mean, coming to the mine with him was all I had. But coming to the mine with you guys is just as good. Yeah."

He sat down as others looked at him with sadness and smiles at being complimented a bit. 

"Bigger secret is why were you in detention?" Jason asked. 

"I blew up my lunchbox," he answered. 

"What?" Kimberly asked, laughing. 

"What, it was an accident, okay?" Billy defended. 

Everyone was laughing, but still not Jaylyn. 

"Of course," Trini said. 

"My lunchbox was in my locker. Boom goes the lunchbox, in detention goes Billy," Billy explained. "But let's not forget that Kimberly Hart was also in-- in detention, too, so..."

There was silence as eyes turned to Kimberly. She looked a little freaked out and shook her head. 

"Not tonight," she said. "Skip me."

"What about you, dude?" Zack asked Jason. "Why don't you tell us who you really are?"

"Because everyone knows exactly who I am," Jason answered. 

"What about you, crazy girl?" Zack asked, turning to Trini. 

"I could tell you anything and you'd have to believe me," she answered. "Okay, um... I'm the new girl. Always. Three schools in three years. What's crazy is that I like it that way. You know, it's just easier. Nobody ever has to get to know me and uh, my parents don't have to worry about my relationships."

"Boyfriend troubles?" Zack asked. 

"Yeah. Boyfriend troubles," she answered. 

"Girlfriend troubles?" Zack continued. 

"My family is so normal," she said after a few seconds, avoiding the question. "Too normal. They believe in labels. They'd like for me to, um... dress differently. Talk more. Have the kinds of friends they want me to have. It's just-- I don't know how to tell them what's really going on with me. And I've never said any of this out loud."

The others had been dead silent as they listened to her story. 

"Well, it's cool. You're with us now," Billy assured her, holding out his hand for her to shake. 

"Am I?" Trini asked. "What does that mean? When all this is over. Are we Power Rangers or... are we friends?"

"Jaylyn. What about you?" Kimberly asked. 

All eyes turned to her. She didn't react at first. Slowly, she looked up to meet the eyes of her team. With a sigh, she gathered her thoughts. 

"I was abandoned at birth. I was raised by a family that wasn't my own. When I was old enough to fend for myself, they threw me out. I lived in the forest, making a house by myself. I made a last name for myself. Jaylyn Forest. I managed to sneak into school and get educated. I got in detention for accidentally giving someone a severe concussion. I have never had friends before, so I am glad to have met you all. My life is very complicated and hard. I'm surprised I managed to live this long, actually. I've never had anyone to tell someone about all this," Jaylyn whispered. 

The others were silent as they listened to her life story. They had their own hardships, but nothing like her's. They felt sympathy for the girl as she stared at the ground between her feet. She sighed and stood up, going to her forest home. The others slowly followed her lead and went to their own houses.


	18. Night Meetings

    Trini's parents left her house later that night, leaving her alone. She was sleeping peacefully until water started dripping onto her head. Opening her eyes, she found Rita hovering over her. Trini gasped as Rita descended towards her, letting the staff hover on its own. Rita took Trini's face in her hands as the girl gasped. 

    "Do you know who I am?" Rita asked her. 

    "Yes," Trini whispered, her breathing shaky. 

    "I was once just like you. So pretty," Rita continued, wiping off the water on Trini's forehead. "Innocent. Are all the rangers on Zordon's new team as young as you?"

    Trini gathers her courage and tries to fight Rita off. Trini was slammed into the ceiling as Rita moved away from her and turned. 

    "Delightful!" Rita exclaimed. 

    Rita and Trini crashed back on the bed. Trini yelped as she fell.     

    "Have you morphed yet?" Rita asked. 

    Rita got up and slammed Trini into a brick wall of her room. Again, Trini yells. This time from pain. 

    "Trick question," Rita answered herself. "If you could morph, we'd be having a very different conversation. Mm. The Purple Ranger. Should I kill you? I killed the Purple Ranger... before. And I loved it! Oh, you want your armor. I'll show you mine, if you show me yours."

    Rita's appearance changed as gold ridges started to form on her face. Green, spiky armor covered most of her body, leaving a few places where the skin was visible. Golden curved metal nails grew over her already existing ones. With a grunt, Trini tackled her and slammed her into the opposite wall. 

    "No, please, you're hurting me! You're so strong!" Rita cried, mockingly. "I'm just kidding."

    Trini was grabbed by the throat and slammed into the wall next to her. 

    "You've got spunk, little Purple," Rita said. "I see myself in you. I was an outsider on Zordon's team just like you. All I need to know is, where is the Zeo Crystal?"

    "I don't know," Trini gasped. 

    "Sadly, I believe you. Tomorrow, I am going to destroy Angel Grove. But, in exchange for your life, you will find out where that crystal is, and you will come to me. We can have a little deal, Didi, my friend."

    Rita proceeded to throw Trini across the room. Trini looked up at the intruder and saw that she was smiling.  

    Jaylyn was asleep at her house when a hand clamped over her mouth. With a small gasp, she opened her eyes to see Kimberly. 

    "Shh! It's me," Kimberly whispered. 

    "Kim," Jaylyn said. "How did you get in here?"

    "I'm a superhero. And you left your window open," she answered. 

    Kimberly stood next to the window as Jaylyn sat up in her bed, watching her for an explanation as to why she was there in the middle of the night. 

    "Is everything okay?" Jaylyn asked. 

    "I think I'm the reason we can't morph," Kimberly replied. "I haven't really been honest."

    Kimberly sat on the edge of the bed, facing the window. Jaylyn was staring at her in confusion. 

    "Okay. I punched Ty Fleming in the face because he told everyone I was the meanest person he'd ever met. And he was right," Kimberly went on. 

    "Well, that can't be true," Jaylyn stated with a scoff. 

    "Okay," Kimberly said, pulling out her phone. 

    Jaylyn waited as her friend pulled up a picture and turned the screen to show it to her. Jaylyn instantly looked away from it. 

    "Whoa. You took that picture?" Jaylyn asked. 

    "No," Kimberly answered. "Amanda Clark took that picture. Of herself. But she shared it with me. Privately. She trusted me."

    "And you sent that pic to-- to Ty?"

    "With a text that said, 'Is this really the girl you wanna bring home to your mom?'"

    "Oh."

    "I didn't realize how mean it was until I saw her face."

    "Kim, there's literally thousands of photos going around school," Jaylyn pointed out, swinging her legs out of bed and sitting up. 

    "I don't care about them. I care about this. I did this. I had to sit in Mr. Detmer's office with Amanda's father and watch as they showed him that photo of his daughter. In his eyes, for the first time, I could see who I'd become. You know, so I lied. I blamed everyone else. I wanted to die, that's why... that's why when you and Jason asked me to run away, I was ready."

    "Okay, listen. Start over. Erase that picture right now," Jaylyn said. 

    "Jaylyn, it can't be erased."

    "Then live with it. You did an awful thing. It doesn't make you an awful person," Jaylyn assured her. "Just be the person you wanna be."

    They stared at each other for a few seconds before Kimberly's phone buzzed with a new text. Together, they walked to the football field, seeing Zack, Jason, and Billy there. Trini was nowhere to be seen. 

    "So, we all get the same text. So where is she?" Kimberly asked. 

    The others shrugged. They walked up the steps to one of the entrances. 

    "I'm here," Trini called out. 

    She was standing in the light of the entrance, above the others. They stop and watch her. 

    "Look, Rita came to my house tonight," she explained. 

    "What?" Kimberly hissed. 

    "Yeah. She's real... insane," Trini replied, pulling down the collar of her shirt to reveal red marks all over her neck from Rita's grip. 

    Kimberly and Jaylyn gasp at the sight. The boys were stunned and didn't know what to do. Zack seemed the most concerned for her, making Jaylyn purse her lips. 

    "She nearly killed me. She was trying to get me to join her. She said she'd spare my life if I could keep a secret," Trini went on. 

    "What secret?" Zack asked. 

    "At dawn, the destruction of Angel Grove begins," Trini answered. 

    "This is real. This is the end," Kimberly muttered. 

    "No, it's not. Where is she?" Jaylyn asked. 

    "She said to meet her where the dead ships live," Trini replied. 

    "Okay. That's the boatyard by the docks, right? Let's go," Jaylyn told them, walking to take Trini's place. 

    "What?" Kimberly asked. 

    Jaylyn turns to the others, who look at her like she's insane. 

    "Are you serious? No one?" Jaylyn asked. 

    Jason frowned and walked to her side. 

    "I think she's right, guys," he said. 

    "Jaylyn, Jason, we're not even Power Rangers yet," Trini pointed out. 

    "I say we go back to Zordon," Billy suggested. 

    "Okay, the only reason Zordon wanted us the become Power Rangers is so that he could come back to life," Jaylyn snapped. 

    "What makes you say that?" Billy asked. 

    "Because he told me," Jaylyn answered simply. 

    "Wait, so all this is a lie?" Billy asked. 

    "Of course it was a lie, Billy. We failed. Let's stop being delusional about being a team of superheroes. We're all screw-ups. And as much as I hate this scrubby, bullshit town, I don't wanna just sit around and watch it die, okay? Let's go and do the one thing that's been asked of us and kill Rita," Jaylyn said. 

    The others had been silent during her talk, Jason standing right next to her. He knew, wherever she went or did, he would follow his leader. 

    "You know this is a really bad idea, right?" Kimberly asked. 

    "The worst. Let's vote. Show of hands," Jaylyn said. 

    Trini raised her hand first, then Kimberly, then Zack, then Jason, then Jaylyn, and finally Billy. 

    "Let's do it," Jaylyn ordered and they all walked off to the fight.


	19. Boatyard Fight

    As a team, they entered the boatyard side by side. Gathering anything they could use as a weapon from the boatyard, they went off in search of Rita. Jaylyn had morphed the second she was inside the yard, knowing she would have to do the most work. They came to a boat with a chair inside it. Thinking it was Rita, they all ran forward and found it was a random homeless man tied to the chair with duct tape over his mouth. 

    "We'll untie him. Hold this," Billy said. 

    "No, no, no," Kimberly hissed. "Let's just think about this, okay?"

    The man looks up as water drops onto his forehead. Jaylyn was in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike. She knew she would have to fight Rita eventually. She had to time it perfectly or all would be lost. 

    "Oh, shit!" Trini whispered, looking up. 

    Rita falls onto the man, killing him and sending up a shockwave that knocked the rangers down. 

    "Right on time. I was beginning to think you were too dumb to know where the dead ships live," Rita said, standing up with the rangers. 

    She turned to Trini as she spoke. Trini threw the pick axe she held. Rita would've gotten her head split open if she hadn't moved. 

    "Let's play," Rita suggested. 

    Yelling, Rita batted the Power Rangers away. Jaylyn was still hidden, having the idea to strike when Rita least expected it. She would let her friends be captured but would attack Rita at the end. She knew she had no hope of defeating Rita on her own, but she would try to distract her long enough for her friends to make an escape. Suddenly, all the lights burst and the rangers were plunged into darkness. Ropes came to life and strung around the five un-morphed rangers, tying them to the side of a boat.

    "I'll kill you for this, Rita," Jaylyn whispered to herself. 

    "Five little rangers tied up like fish," Rita taunted, walking up and down the line of teenagers. "The leader? Oh, hello, Blue. Where's Red?"

    In answer, Jason slammed his head into Rita's. 

    "Oh!" Rita gasped. "You're not entirely disappointing. Oh, look at you. Trying to figure out my plan. I'll just tell you. Purple has led you to your deaths. Because I'm going to kill you, one by one, until you tell me, where is my crystal?"

    "We don't know," Jason growled. 

    "No, Blue. You don't know! But guess what? One of you does. Who could it be? Eenie, meenie, miney... Yellow," Rita said, walking down the line and stopping in front of Billy. "Yellow, so happy. Pure in humor, whether you know it or not. Tell the class what you know! Where's my crystal?"

    Billy didn't answer as everyone looked at him. He didn't want to answer but didn't want the others to get hurt. 

    "You can tell me now, Yellow, or you can tell me after I kill all your friends. I will find Red and kill him to," Rita said. 

    "Red is a girl," Jason snapped angrily. "And you won't find her."

    "Let's start with Black," Rita said, ignoring Jason's comment. 

    She put her staff to Zack's throat, draining the life out of him. Everyone gasped and yelled at her. 

    "He dies in three, two..." Rita stated, holding up three fingers and putting one down for each number she said. 

    "Okay! Okay!" Billy shouted. 

    Rita released Zack, who gasped for air as he returned to normal. 

    "Don't hurt my friends, alright? It's at a dining establishment," Billy said. 

    "Where? What does that mean? What's it called?" Rita asked. 

    "It's a Krispy Kreme," he answered. 

    "Krispy Kreme?" Zack whispered. 

    "Krispy Kreme," Rita murmured. "This is a special place?"

    "Very special," Billy mumbled. 

    "It must be. The source of life itself is buried there. Thank you, Yellow, for being so weak," Rita told him, walking off down the line. "Zordon would lose all respect for me if I don't kill you. At least one of you."    

    "What?" Kimberly asked. 

    Rita turned around and raised her staff. Billy's ropes were attached to a pulley system. He plummeted into the water, the other rangers yelling for him. Jaylyn felt anger bubble up inside her, and she decided to attack now. 

    She launched herself out of her hiding place and tackled Rita to the ground. She flung a dagger at Jason's bonds. He cut himself free and went to get Zack. Zack started working on the others as Jason started to pull Billy out of the water. 

    "There you are, Red. I see you are easily angered when it comes to your friends," she hissed. 

    "Hurt my friends anymore, and I swear I will kill you. Now, go away from me and my friends!" Jaylyn screamed. 

    Rita laughed and ran off, knocking Jaylyn away with her staff. 

    "You're not ready to kill me. Ha! You're not worthy," Rita called. 

    Jaylyn hit the ground hard, her armor melting away. She made her way back to the others. She reached her friends in time to see them haul Billy over the edge. Kimberly shoved Jason aside as she unzipped the top of Billy's jacket to allow him more room to breathe. Zack backed up to let Kimberly try and help Billy. 

    "He's gonna be okay, right?" Trini asked, watching and unsure. 

    "Come on," Jason whispered. "Hey, hey. You got this, big guy. Come on."

    "He's dead," Kimberly cried. "He's dead."

    Zack put his hand over his mouth as Trini put her hands on her head and turned away. Jason merely crouched there with a blank look on his face, trying to register her words. Kimberly was crying, as were the others. Jason stood up, steadying himself on Zack's shoulder. Kimberly noticed something in Billy's pocket and pulled it out. It was his phone and a piece of paper. The paper was the one with the band suggestion on it that Kimberly had written. 

    "Pick him up," Kimberly ordered. "Help me pick him up!"

    Zack get Billy's leg as Kimberly and Trini took his arms. 

    "Come on!" Zack said, hitting Jason in the chest to get him moving. 

    Jason grabbed Billy's other leg and together, they carried him away. Jaylyn was up front, leading them. She had a slight limp to her step from her fight with Rita. She clutched her right arm from behind slammed into the rocky ground. They carried Billy to the cliff and set him on his feet with Jason. 

    "Okay. Okay. Come on, Billy. We got you, buddy. Take him. Take him," Jason said, looking at Jaylyn. 

    She nodded. Together, the threesome jumped into the water, followed by Kimberly, Trini, and Zack. The other three pulled Jason, Jaylyn, and Billy through the water as they couldn't swim and hold onto Billy at the same time. They landed on the rock below the water, Jaylyn's ankle giving way. Kimberly pulled her to her feet and steadied her for a second. Jaylyn led the way to the ship, to her friend's only hope of life once more.


	20. Back to Life

    Four of the five remaining rangers were carrying Billy. They took him to the morphing room where Alpha 5 was talking with Zordon. 

    "Let's just put him down," Jason muttered. 

    "Okay," Trini said. 

    They lowered Billy onto the floor, and Trini took off her jacket. She put it under Billy's head as a pillow as Jaylyn and Jason moved closer to Zordon. 

    "Master Billy," Alpha 5 asked, turning around. 

    "Do something, okay?" Jaylyn pleaded. "There must be something you can do for him."

    "I told that you were not ready," Zordon answered. 

    "Zordon, please help up, okay? Please," Jaylyn said quietly, tears in her eyes. 

    "There's nothing that I could do for him. We were both reckless with our teams," Zordon told him. 

    "No," Alpha 5 whispered. 

    "I'm sorry," Jaylyn whispered. 

    She turned and went back to her team, who were sitting on the steps, depressed. She looked at her team, disregarding the fact that Alpha 5 and Zordon were watching. 

    "I'm sorry, guys. He's dead because of me," Jaylyn said quietly. 

    "No, Jaylyn, it was all of us," Kimberly stated, standing up, looking like she had misheard Jaylyn accusing herself for Billy's death. 

    "No, I pushed it," she argued. "And as usual I made a bad decision. Out of fear or anger. I don't know. I was just so angry. He's-- he's a great kid, you know? And he loved us. He loved... being a ranger. I'm sorry, Billy. I'd trade my life for yours if I could."

    The others were watching Jaylyn silently. She walked up the steps a bit and sat down. Kimberly was thinking. 

    "Maybe he traded his life for us," Kimberly suggested. 

    "Yeah. Probably did," Zack said, standing up and drawing all eyes to him. "I would."

    "Me too," Kimberly agreed. 

    "Yeah. Me too," Trini added. 

    "Me too," Jason said. 

    "Me too," Jaylyn whispered. 

    "It's just the five of us now," Kimberly said, moving down the stairs and turning to the others. The truth is, whatever we've said to each other, it doesn't matter. This," she said, gesturing to the circle of teenagers. "This is the only thing that matters."

    "She's right," Trini agreed. 

    The others nodded in agreement with Kimberly's words. The sphere of light began to glow, turning bright blue. 

    "Zordon! Zordon! Look at the grid!" Alpha 5 exclaimed. "This is your time! Do-- do you see it? The grid id open! Step through!"

    The rangers stood up as Zordon spoke. 

    "Yes, I see it. I see it," he said. 

    "Step through, Zordon!" Alpha 5 yelled. 

    "Hey!" Kimberly cried out. 

    "What's happening?" Zack shouted over the strong wind that had picked up inside the ship. 

    "The morphing grid is open!" Alpha 5 explained. 

    "What's going on?" Trini asked. 

    Zordon yelled as his face disappeared from the wall. There was only the sound of the Rangers' heavy breathing. 

    "Zordon? Master?" Alpha 5 asked, unsure. 

    "Where is he?" Kimberly asked. 

    "He must have stepped through the grid," Alpha 5 said. 

    "Alpha, where'd he go?" Jaylyn asked. 

    "I don't know where he is," Alpha 5 admitted. 

    Zordon reappeared in the wall, startling everyone. 

    "Zordon, what? Why didn't you step through? That was your only chance," Alpha 5 pointed out. 

    "I know," Zordon answered. "But only one can come back."

    Billy coughed up all the water that had gotten into his lungs and sat up. He drew all attention to him as he looked around him. 

    "Billy!" Alpha 5 gasped. 

    Billy stumbled to his feet, causing four of the five other rangers to run over to him. Jason and Jaylyn stared at each other in shock of what just happened. 

    "Did I die?" Billy asked. 

    "Yes," Trini said. 

    "No," Kimberly told him at the same time. 

    "Little bit," Zack said. 

    "And you guys brought me back to life," Billy stated. "I told you we were superheroes."

    Jaylyn turned back to Zordon, who was watching her carefully. 

    "There can only be one Red Ranger. Jaylyn, this is your time. This is your team," Zordon said. 

    "Thank you," Jaylyn whispered. 

    "Dude, that was loopy. Seeing my dad," Billy said to the others. 

    She wandered back over to her team, Billy looking up at her as she approached. He made his way to her and hugged her tightly. She pulled away and put her hands on his shoulders. 

    "Welcome back, my friend," she said. 

    Billy put a hand on Zack's shoulder as he remembered something. 

    "Oh, we gotta go to Krispy Kreme, Jaylyn," he said. 

    "What?" Zack asked. 

    "Not for donuts," Billy continued. 

    "Okay. Let's try this," Jaylyn whispered. 

    Maybe they would all morph this time. For the sake of the world and all they hold dear. For all the lives that will be lost to Rita's hand. Just maybe...


	21. It's Morphin' Time

    The Power Rangers got into their Zords, the clear shields encasing them in the cockpit. 

    "This is a lot different than the van," Yellow pointed out. 

    Metal cords shot out and grabbed their suits, pulling them to rest against the back of the seat and keep them in place. The handles flew to their hands as they powered up. 

    "Whoo! Yippie-kay-yay, motherfu-- Mother's good. Mother's good," Billy said, catching himself. 

    "Go, go, Power Rangers!" Alpha 5 shouted, directing them out of the underground area. 

    Pink and Purple were flying as the other four ran along the ground. Yellow was going backward. 

    "I'm not going the right way! What?" Yellow yelled. "Jason, I'm going backwards!"

    Yellow was up front with the others close behind him, racing through the streets. Pink and Purple were flying over the smoke and dust, surveying the damage. 

    "Guys... our town. She's destroying it," Pink said. 

    Goldar was on his knees, demolishing a building as people ran, screaming. 

    "Krispy Kreme!" Rita shouted. "Not there."

    "Rita and her golden boy haven't found Krispy Kreme yet," Purple told the others. 

    "Okay, Kim, Trini, you hold them there. Zack, Billy, you circle the Krispy Kreme and make sure it's safe," Red ordered. "Jason and I will go straight for Goldar."

    "Copy! I'll hold her off," Pink said. 

    "Let's go boys," Red said. 

    "Billy, just the two of us," Black told him. 

    "I'm right behind you," Yellow replied. 

    Black turned a corner and knocked over a stoplight. He glanced back and winced slightly. 

    "Oops," he said. 

    Pink and Purple turned their handles vertically and their blasters came into view. They shrugged and nodded to each other. 

    "Surprise," Pink said. 

    The two pulled the triggers and sent a hail of lasers at Rita, who was walking along in the street. They flew over Rita and yanked on the handles, still not used to driving the Zords. Rita chuckled. 

    "How cute. The rangers found their costumes and their dino-cars," Rita said. "Well, let's give them something else to play with."

    She tapped the end of her staff on the ground and dragged it. As she walked, Putties started to form and rise. 

    "Crush them!" Rita yelled, motivating the Putties to go forwards. 

    People jumped out of their cars and ran. People were still trying to get somewhere safe within the chaos and/or find their friends and family. 

    "How many does she need?" Yellow asked. 

    "This is insane," Pink said. 

    She and Purple shot down Putties from the air as Yellow attacked from below, knocking aside enemies. 

    "Take that!" Purple yelled, shooting five Putties at once. 

    Red came to a stop and looked around for something. She spotted a car and nodded. 

    "Okay. Let's try this!" she said. 

    She gripped the car in her Zord's foot claw and sent it flying towards the Putties, cutting a line right down the middle of the ranks. 

    "Sorry, Bumblebee! Whoo!" Red shouted. 

    Red picked up some Putties in her mouth and flung them into a building. Soon, though, she was outnumbered as Putties started crawling all over her Zord. She shook around, trying to dislodge them. 

    "I can't get 'em off!" she yelled. 

    Pink came flying in at that moment and saw her friend's situation. 

    "Turn your head. Trust me," she said. 

    Red did as Pink told and turned. Pink shot the Putties off of Red and slammed into her head on accident. Putties grabbed onto Pink as she soared off. 

    "Okay. Thanks, Kim," Red said. 

    "That's alright," she answered. 

    She spun around and around, throwing the Putties off her. The arm of a defeated Putty landed on the front of Pink's former friends. The two girls started screaming as Pink smirked. 

    "That's what you get," she said. 

    Colt Wallace, the bully, was running from another Putty. He jumped into the girls' car as Yellow came running by, shooting the Putty until it broke. 

    "Whoo!" Yellow yelled. 

    Goldar continued walking through town, knocking over power lines and stepping on Putties that didn't move fast enough. Rita was walking somewhere ahead of the monster and stopped. Turning, she saw a cup from Krispy Kreme and knew she found the right place. 

    "The crystal," she whispered. 

    "She just found the crystal," Purple called out as she and Pink flew by Goldar, shooting him. 

    "Okay, come on, let's move!" Red shouted. 

    Rita picked up a donut and observed it for a second. As she bit into it, Goldar's hand came down and entered the building, smashing the roof. 

    "I'll take Goldar from the right," Red informed the others. 

    "Lyn! I'm right behind you," Blue shouted. 

      "Come on!" Red yelled. 

    Both Red and Blue jumped onto Goldar, knocking him away from Krispy Kreme.     

    "Jason, it's your dad. I'm looking for you. I'm downtown. I'm at Mariner Bay and Reefside. Call me back as soon as you get this," Sam said into his phone. 

    He turned his head as he heard Goldar roaring. 

    "How's that feel?" Red asked. 

    "We got this. Come on!" Blue encouraged. 

    Goldar swung his arm and managed to get Red within hitting range. Goldar hit Red off of him and flying through the air. 

    "No!" Red shouted. 

    "No!" Blue yelled, now by himself as he hung off of Goldar. 

    "I'm coming!" Pink yelled. 

    She came flying in and started shooting Goldar, who had knocked Blue off. Goldar slammed his fist down on Pink's left wing, causing her to spin and fly through his golden wing. Liquid gold rained down on the area behind Goldar, burning. Some landed on the windshield of Sam's blue truck, obstructing his vision. The truck hit a pile of rubble and went sailing through the air. Yelling, Sam crashed onto the hood of the truck, coughing and trying to get out. Red saw him and took a deep breath. She allowed the mask to cover her face as she jumped out of her Zord. 

    "Jason, you lead for now. I'm getting your dad out of his truck. He just crashed. He doesn't seem to be seriously injured," Red told the team. 

    "On it," Blue said. 

    Breathing heavily, Red ran to the truck. Two Putties came up to her. She quickly destroyed them. 

    "Help!" Sam yelled. 

    Red finished off the second one and dashed to the truck. She ripped the door off and crouched down, hand outstretched to Sam. 

    "Give me your hand," she said. 

    Sam panicked at the sight of something that didn't look human. He banged on the opposite door, trying to get out and away from the red clad girl. 

    "Sam! Look at me," she said. 

    "Huh?" Sam asked, wondering how she knew his name. 

    "It's okay. Give me your hand," she repeated. 

    Sam reached out and took Red's hand. She pulled him out of the burning truck and moved away. 

    Rita walked out of the Krispy Kreme and looked up at Goldar. 

    "Dig. Dig, Goldar," she said. 

    "Me and Zack are gonna try to push Goldar to the water," Yellow said. 

    Goldar saw them coming and knocked them out of the way. Black was sent flying over a building while Yellow got pounded into the street a bit. Pink came flying in with Purple. Purple lifted Black onto his feet as Pink headed to Yellow. 

    Red carried Sam to a yellow concrete barrier, setting him down and waiting to see if he was okay. He looked up at her, breathing ragged. 

    "We're okay. I'm okay. Go," he said. 

    Red backed away and ran back to her Zord. Sam stared after her, wondering who she was. 

    "Guys, help!" Yellow yelled. 

    "Billy, I have an idea. Ready?" Pink asked, as she got closer. 

    "Uh... yeah? For what exactly?" Yellow agreed hesitantly. 

    Pink grabbed Yellow in her talons and flew off, taking Yellow with her. 

    "Oh-ho-ho!" Yellow shouted, not liking this idea. "I don't know what to press okay?"

    Rita was staring at them in confusion, unsure as to what was happening. Pink circled back around as Yellow pushed a button. A screen popped up with different other buttons to press. 

    "Open wide, Rita," Pink said. 

    "Let me try..." Yellow started before screaming. 

    Pink had let Yellow go, him plummeting to the ground. He went straight through Goldar's back and chest, headed right to Rita. He reached forward and hit a button. The second he landed, a shockwave was sent out, knocked Goldar back and sending Rita flying. Rita hit the ground hard, cut and bleeding. Goldar fell backward and crashes onto a building, destroying it. Rita gasped and then died. The Putties crumbled into nothing and fell to the ground. 

    "Hey, Billy, you okay?" Black asked, coming around the corner. 

    "Yeah, I'm okay," Yellow answered. 

    "That was crazy brave, dude," Black complimented. 

    "Did we do it?" Purple asked. 

    "Did we-- did we win?" Yellow asked. 

    "Yeah!" Black cried out, laughing. 

    Goldar melted and let the gold run to Rita, picking her up. The gold healed the woman and set her on her feet. She looked up at Goldar, who roared. She turned around and smiled. 

    "I feel the crystal," she whispered and summoned her staff to her hand. 

    "She's back," Blue observed. 

    "No shit, Sherlock," Red said sarcastically, earning a few laughs. 

    Goldar slammed his fists into the ground, causing a series of explosions to go off. The Power Rangers groaned as an intense heat hit them. As they opened their eyes, they gasped. 

    "That's incredible," Yellow whispered.     

    In a hole in the ground as a swirl of colors, reminding them off the light sphere in the morphing room. 

    "Oh, my God," Purple said. 

    "Come on, let's go!" Red ordered.  

    All the Power Rangers moved in front of the hole, blocking Goldar from coming closer. 

    "Okay, everyone. Hold the line," Red said. 

    Rita smirked as Goldar took a few steps closer to the rangers. Goldar had the size advantage here while there were more of the rangers. 

    "Okay," Pink whispered. 

    "We got this," Purple encouraged. 

    "Come on!" Yellow yelled. 

    All weapons were aimed at Goldar, ready to fire. Rita took a few steps closer and curled her fingers into a fist. 

    "Crush them!" she shouted. 

    "Okay, fire!" Red instructed. 

    All weapons started blasting the monster before them, trying to keep him at bay. All the Power Rangers were yelling, even though it did nothing to help. Red was silent, concentrating on her attack. Pink and Purple took turns flying in and shooting. 

    "Come on, guys!" Purple encouraged. 

    Goldar slammed his fist into Blue, causing him to get knocked around in the cockpit. Black and Yellow got knocked backward. 

    "If you must come at me... come at me, bro!" Yellow yelled out. 

    "Watch out! Billy!" Black shouted. 

    Goldar went right for Red now. She got knocked to the side and to the ground. Groaning, she shook her head a bit. Pink and Purple decided to come at that moment instead of flying around. 

    "Jaylyn, we're coming in," Pink said. 

    She grabbed Red and pulled her back up as Purple came into view. 

    "Kim! I got your back," Purple told her. 

    Pink managed to get Red back onto her feet and both started shooting. Goldar created two flaming gobs of gold and launched them at Pink and Purple. Both of them gasped and flew up a bit, trying to avoid catching the others on fire. 

    "We're burning," Pink whispered. 

    "I can't... I can't breathe," Purple muttered. 

    Red grew angry at Goldar. How dare he threaten her town and hurt her friends? She let loose a very anger-filled scream as she intensified her attack. Goldar smashed Pink and Purple on top of of the other Power Rangers. They both groaned at the impact before Goldar started folding the wings in on them. 

    "He's crushing us!" Pink yelped. 

    "Push them into the pit!" Rita screeched.  

    Goldar grabbed them and started pushing them backward, to the pit. 

    "Guys, we're sliding!" Yellow shouted. 

    "Come on, everybody, hold the line!" Red ordered. 

    "Fight back!" Black agreed. 

    A car burst into flames behind Black, the heat becoming too much for it. The rangers were feeling the heat of it as well and started to lose hope. 

    "It's getting too hot, guys. I don't know how much longer I can hold it," Purple admitted. 

    Red and Blue got their heads smashed into each other. Their eyes met, and Red smiled slightly at her friend before turning her attention back to Goldar. 

    "No one dies alone," she said. 

    "I'm okay with that," Yellow replied. 

    The rangers were giving the fight the last of their strength, trying desperately to save the town and the world. Red was fighting for everyone but herself. She found that, even though she was part of this team, her teammates were more important to her than herself. She never had a home anyway. Or a family. Thinking back on it, the rangers were her family, in a way. 

    "Hold the line. Hold the line. Hold the line," Black said, weakly. 

    His head fell forward as the heat finally made him pass out. Yellow freaked out, thinking he was dead. 

    "Zack! Zack, stay with me. Zack. Come on," Purple shouted. 

    Once more, Red and Blue shared eye contact as Red raised her hand in a farewell. Blue reached out to her as though he could take her hand in his. 

    "Thank you for being my friends," Yellow said. 

    "Hold on to each other," Pink demanded as they were finally pushed into the pit. 

    They fell into the pit, the fire flaring up around them. Screaming, they all held each other as Pink had said. Their Zords were turning into something else, but they had no clue what. They thought they were dead and gone for good. Then the heat got to them and everything was black as an explosion could be felt and heard.


	22. Angel Grove

    The Power Rangers got into their Zords, the clear shields encasing them in the cockpit. 

    "This is a lot different than the van," Yellow pointed out. 

    Metal cords shot out and grabbed their suits, pulling them to rest against the back of the seat and keep them in place. The handles flew to their hands as they powered up. 

    "Whoo! Yippie-kay-yay, motherfu-- Mother's good. Mother's good," Billy said, catching himself. 

    "Go, go, Power Rangers!" Alpha 5 shouted, directing them out of the underground area. 

    Pink and Purple were flying as the other four ran along the ground. Yellow was going backward. 

    "I'm not going the right way! What?" Yellow yelled. "Jason, I'm going backwards!"

    Yellow was up front with the others close behind him, racing through the streets. Pink and Purple were flying over the smoke and dust, surveying the damage. 

    "Guys... our town. She's destroying it," Pink said. 

    Goldar was on his knees, demolishing a building as people ran, screaming. 

    "Krispy Kreme!" Rita shouted. "Not there."

    "Rita and her golden boy haven't found Krispy Kreme yet," Purple told the others. 

    "Okay, Kim, Trini, you hold them there. Zack, Billy, you circle the Krispy Kreme and make sure it's safe," Red ordered. "Jason and I will go straight for Goldar."

    "Copy! I'll hold her off," Pink said. 

    "Let's go boys," Red said. 

    "Billy, just the two of us," Black told him. 

    "I'm right behind you," Yellow replied. 

    Black turned a corner and knocked over a stoplight. He glanced back and winced slightly. 

    "Oops," he said. 

    Pink and Purple turned their handles vertically and their blasters came into view. They shrugged and nodded to each other. 

    "Surprise," Pink said. 

    The two pulled the triggers and sent a hail of lasers at Rita, who was walking along in the street. They flew over Rita and yanked on the handles, still not used to driving the Zords. Rita chuckled. 

    "How cute. The rangers found their costumes and their dino-cars," Rita said. "Well, let's give them something else to play with."

    She tapped the end of her staff on the ground and dragged it. As she walked, Putties started to form and rise. 

    "Crush them!" Rita yelled, motivating the Putties to go forwards. 

    People jumped out of their cars and ran. People were still trying to get somewhere safe within the chaos and/or find their friends and family. 

    "How many does she need?" Yellow asked. 

    "This is insane," Pink said. 

    She and Purple shot down Putties from the air as Yellow attacked from below, knocking aside enemies. 

    "Take that!" Purple yelled, shooting five Putties at once. 

    Red came to a stop and looked around for something. She spotted a car and nodded. 

    "Okay. Let's try this!" she said. 

    She gripped the car in her Zord's foot claw and sent it flying towards the Putties, cutting a line right down the middle of the ranks. 

    "Sorry, Bumblebee! Whoo!" Red shouted. 

    Red picked up some Putties in her mouth and flung them into a building. Soon, though, she was outnumbered as Putties started crawling all over her Zord. She shook around, trying to dislodge them. 

    "I can't get 'em off!" she yelled. 

    Pink came flying in at that moment and saw her friend's situation. 

    "Turn your head. Trust me," she said. 

    Red did as Pink told and turned. Pink shot the Putties off of Red and slammed into her head on accident. Putties grabbed onto Pink as she soared off. 

    "Okay. Thanks, Kim," Red said. 

    "That's alright," she answered. 

    She spun around and around, throwing the Putties off her. The arm of a defeated Putty landed on the front of Pink's former friends. The two girls started screaming as Pink smirked. 

    "That's what you get," she said. 

    Colt Wallace, the bully, was running from another Putty. He jumped into the girls' car as Yellow came running by, shooting the Putty until it broke. 

    "Whoo!" Yellow yelled. 

    Goldar continued walking through town, knocking over power lines and stepping on Putties that didn't move fast enough. Rita was walking somewhere ahead of the monster and stopped. Turning, she saw a cup from Krispy Kreme and knew she found the right place. 

    "The crystal," she whispered. 

    "She just found the crystal," Purple called out as she and Pink flew by Goldar, shooting him. 

    "Okay, come on, let's move!" Red shouted. 

    Rita picked up a donut and observed it for a second. As she bit into it, Goldar's hand came down and entered the building, smashing the roof. 

    "I'll take Goldar from the right," Red informed the others. 

    "Lyn! I'm right behind you," Blue shouted. 

      "Come on!" Red yelled. 

    Both Red and Blue jumped onto Goldar, knocking him away from Krispy Kreme.     

    "Jason, it's your dad. I'm looking for you. I'm downtown. I'm at Mariner Bay and Reefside. Call me back as soon as you get this," Sam said into his phone. 

    He turned his head as he heard Goldar roaring. 

    "How's that feel?" Red asked. 

    "We got this. Come on!" Blue encouraged. 

    Goldar swung his arm and managed to get Red within hitting range. Goldar hit Red off of him and flying through the air. 

    "No!" Red shouted. 

    "No!" Blue yelled, now by himself as he hung off of Goldar. 

    "I'm coming!" Pink yelled. 

    She came flying in and started shooting Goldar, who had knocked Blue off. Goldar slammed his fist down on Pink's left wing, causing her to spin and fly through his golden wing. Liquid gold rained down on the area behind Goldar, burning. Some landed on the windshield of Sam's blue truck, obstructing his vision. The truck hit a pile of rubble and went sailing through the air. Yelling, Sam crashed onto the hood of the truck, coughing and trying to get out. Red saw him and took a deep breath. She allowed the mask to cover her face as she jumped out of her Zord. 

    "Jason, you lead for now. I'm getting your dad out of his truck. He just crashed. He doesn't seem to be seriously injured," Red told the team. 

    "On it," Blue said. 

    Breathing heavily, Red ran to the truck. Two Putties came up to her. She quickly destroyed them. 

    "Help!" Sam yelled. 

    Red finished off the second one and dashed to the truck. She ripped the door off and crouched down, hand outstretched to Sam. 

    "Give me your hand," she said. 

    Sam panicked at the sight of something that didn't look human. He banged on the opposite door, trying to get out and away from the red clad girl. 

    "Sam! Look at me," she said. 

    "Huh?" Sam asked, wondering how she knew his name. 

    "It's okay. Give me your hand," she repeated. 

    Sam reached out and took Red's hand. She pulled him out of the burning truck and moved away. 

    Rita walked out of the Krispy Kreme and looked up at Goldar. 

    "Dig. Dig, Goldar," she said. 

    "Me and Zack are gonna try to push Goldar to the water," Yellow said. 

    Goldar saw them coming and knocked them out of the way. Black was sent flying over a building while Yellow got pounded into the street a bit. Pink came flying in with Purple. Purple lifted Black onto his feet as Pink headed to Yellow. 

    Red carried Sam to a yellow concrete barrier, setting him down and waiting to see if he was okay. He looked up at her, breathing ragged. 

    "We're okay. I'm okay. Go," he said. 

    Red backed away and ran back to her Zord. Sam stared after her, wondering who she was. 

    "Guys, help!" Yellow yelled. 

    "Billy, I have an idea. Ready?" Pink asked, as she got closer. 

    "Uh... yeah? For what exactly?" Yellow agreed hesitantly. 

    Pink grabbed Yellow in her talons and flew off, taking Yellow with her. 

    "Oh-ho-ho!" Yellow shouted, not liking this idea. "I don't know what to press okay?"

    Rita was staring at them in confusion, unsure as to what was happening. Pink circled back around as Yellow pushed a button. A screen popped up with different other buttons to press. 

    "Open wide, Rita," Pink said. 

    "Let me try..." Yellow started before screaming. 

    Pink had let Yellow go, him plummeting to the ground. He went straight through Goldar's back and chest, headed right to Rita. He reached forward and hit a button. The second he landed, a shockwave was sent out, knocked Goldar back and sending Rita flying. Rita hit the ground hard, cut and bleeding. Goldar fell backward and crashes onto a building, destroying it. Rita gasped and then died. The Putties crumbled into nothing and fell to the ground. 

    "Hey, Billy, you okay?" Black asked, coming around the corner. 

    "Yeah, I'm okay," Yellow answered. 

    "That was crazy brave, dude," Black complimented. 

    "Did we do it?" Purple asked. 

    "Did we-- did we win?" Yellow asked. 

    "Yeah!" Black cried out, laughing. 

    Goldar melted and let the gold run to Rita, picking her up. The gold healed the woman and set her on her feet. She looked up at Goldar, who roared. She turned around and smiled. 

    "I feel the crystal," she whispered and summoned her staff to her hand. 

    "She's back," Blue observed. 

    "No shit, Sherlock," Red said sarcastically, earning a few laughs. 

    Goldar slammed his fists into the ground, causing a series of explosions to go off. The Power Rangers groaned as an intense heat hit them. As they opened their eyes, they gasped. 

    "That's incredible," Yellow whispered.     

    In a hole in the ground as a swirl of colors, reminding them off the light sphere in the morphing room. 

    "Oh, my God," Purple said. 

    "Come on, let's go!" Red ordered.  

    All the Power Rangers moved in front of the hole, blocking Goldar from coming closer. 

    "Okay, everyone. Hold the line," Red said. 

    Rita smirked as Goldar took a few steps closer to the rangers. Goldar had the size advantage here while there were more of the rangers. 

    "Okay," Pink whispered. 

    "We got this," Purple encouraged. 

    "Come on!" Yellow yelled. 

    All weapons were aimed at Goldar, ready to fire. Rita took a few steps closer and curled her fingers into a fist. 

    "Crush them!" she shouted. 

    "Okay, fire!" Red instructed. 

    All weapons started blasting the monster before them, trying to keep him at bay. All the Power Rangers were yelling, even though it did nothing to help. Red was silent, concentrating on her attack. Pink and Purple took turns flying in and shooting. 

    "Come on, guys!" Purple encouraged. 

    Goldar slammed his fist into Blue, causing him to get knocked around in the cockpit. Black and Yellow got knocked backward. 

    "If you must come at me... come at me, bro!" Yellow yelled out. 

    "Watch out! Billy!" Black shouted. 

    Goldar went right for Red now. She got knocked to the side and to the ground. Groaning, she shook her head a bit. Pink and Purple decided to come at that moment instead of flying around. 

    "Jaylyn, we're coming in," Pink said. 

    She grabbed Red and pulled her back up as Purple came into view. 

    "Kim! I got your back," Purple told her. 

    Pink managed to get Red back onto her feet and both started shooting. Goldar created two flaming gobs of gold and launched them at Pink and Purple. Both of them gasped and flew up a bit, trying to avoid catching the others on fire. 

    "We're burning," Pink whispered. 

    "I can't... I can't breathe," Purple muttered. 

    Red grew angry at Goldar. How dare he threaten her town and hurt her friends? She let loose a very anger-filled scream as she intensified her attack. Goldar smashed Pink and Purple on top of of the other Power Rangers. They both groaned at the impact before Goldar started folding the wings in on them. 

    "He's crushing us!" Pink yelped. 

    "Push them into the pit!" Rita screeched.  

    Goldar grabbed them and started pushing them backward, to the pit. 

    "Guys, we're sliding!" Yellow shouted. 

    "Come on, everybody, hold the line!" Red ordered. 

    "Fight back!" Black agreed. 

    A car burst into flames behind Black, the heat becoming too much for it. The rangers were feeling the heat of it as well and started to lose hope. 

    "It's getting too hot, guys. I don't know how much longer I can hold it," Purple admitted. 

    Red and Blue got their heads smashed into each other. Their eyes met, and Red smiled slightly at her friend before turning her attention back to Goldar. 

    "No one dies alone," she said. 

    "I'm okay with that," Yellow replied. 

    The rangers were giving the fight the last of their strength, trying desperately to save the town and the world. Red was fighting for everyone but herself. She found that, even though she was part of this team, her teammates were more important to her than herself. She never had a home anyway. Or a family. Thinking back on it, the rangers were her family, in a way. 

    "Hold the line. Hold the line. Hold the line," Black said, weakly. 

    His head fell forward as the heat finally made him pass out. Yellow freaked out, thinking he was dead. 

    "Zack! Zack, stay with me. Zack. Come on," Purple shouted. 

    Once more, Red and Blue shared eye contact as Red raised her hand in a farewell. Blue reached out to her as though he could take her hand in his. 

    "Thank you for being my friends," Yellow said. 

    "Hold on to each other," Pink demanded as they were finally pushed into the pit. 

    They fell into the pit, the fire flaring up around them. Screaming, they all held each other as Pink had said. Their Zords were turning into something else, but they had no clue what. They thought they were dead and gone for good. Then the heat got to them and everything was black as an explosion could be felt and heard.


	23. Unstoppable

Rita smirked as an explosion burst out of the pit. Goldar straightened up as she walked forward. 

"Get my crystal!" Rita shouted. 

Goldar knelt down and put his hand into the pit only to be met with an explosion. From the smoke rose a large figure of metal, pieces still being put in their right place. Rita stared at it with an open mouth as she saw a large hand emerge, followed by the rest of the body. The Red Ranger was panting from the experience in the pit, the heat still wearing off. She was the first to realize they weren't dead. 

"We're alive," she whispered. 

"Guys, we're alive!" Yellow shouted happily. "We're like one big, uh... one big Zord. Like a mama Zord."

"What?" Pink whispered. 

"No, no, no. That sounds lame. Um... a Megazord!" Yellow corrected himself. 

"How?" Rita yelled in disbelief. 

Black and Yellow had the legs, Pink and Purple had the arms, Blue was near the lower abdomen, and Red was in the center of the chest, at the base of the neck. Goldar reached down and let Rita climb onto his hand. He lifted her up and held her to his chest. 

"Whoa," Yellow said. 

Rita leaned back against the golden chest, and the molten gold started to encase her as a protection mechanism. 

"What?" Pink asked. 

When Rita was completely encased, a green ripple was sent outwards across Goldar's chest. He turned to face the Power Rangers, ready for a fight. 

"Oh, shit," Red whispered. 

"Bring it on," Purple challenged. 

"Everyone, let's go!" Red ordered. 

Red started to have the Megazord move, but the feet got tripped up, making them all fall forward. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Red shouted. "Whoa, whoa, no, no, no, no!"

The hands caught them all from falling flat on the ground. The rangers stopped screaming from the fall and grunted at the impact. 

"That might've been my fault. I'm sorry, y'all," Yellow apologized. 

"I think Kimberly needs to move our feet," Red stated. 

"No, I've got the arm," Pink said. 

"Uh, no, I do. I've got the leg," Black told them. 

"You're a leg, too?" Yellow asked. 

"I have the arm," Purple said. 

Blue and Red were more the ones who were supervising. Blue was watching Yellow and Black while Red watched over Purple and Pink. 

"We all have to move together," Red instructed. 

"I'll lift us," Pink told them. 

She pushed the Megazord to its feet as Goldar started to run at them. 

"All together on three. One, two, three!" Red ordered. 

They started running at Goldar to meet him halfway. 

"We got this! Come on!" Pink encouraged. 

Goldar grabbed the rangers, who started to fall backward. Thinking quickly, Blue called out. 

"Zack, catch us," he said. 

Black did as he was told, putting his foot behind them and stopping the fall. 

Purple delivered a punch to Goldar's face without being told to do so. Red and Blue approved of her work, though. 

"Let's go again!" Red shouted. 

Goldar punched them in the head, causing them to grunt. 

"Kimberly, throw a hook! Now!" Red ordered. 

Pink did as she was told, swinging her fist into Goldar's face like Purple had. 

"Whoo!" she cried out. 

Goldar punched them across the face and then at the gut. This meant that Blue got hit head on with Goldar's fist. He groaned at the impact and strength of the punch. 

"You okay?" Red asked. 

"I'm fine," Blue answered. 

"Oh, I wish I could punch!" Yellow shouted. 

He pulled his handles up and then down. His leg came up and kicked Goldar right in the chest, knocking him backward. 

"Nice one, Billy!" Red and Blue congratulated. 

A golden sword formed in Goldar's hand as he straightened himself. He pulled it behind him as he got ready for a charge. 

"Jaylyn, we got anything for that?" Black asked. 

"Remember the pit?" she asked. 

"Yeah," Black answered, chuckling. 

"Hey, I hate the pit!" Yellow complained. 

Goldar started running at them as they got themselves ready. 

"Ready?" Red asked. 

"Ready," Black answered. 

"Ready." Purple. 

"Ready." Yellow. 

"Ready." Pink. 

"Ready." Blue. 

"Now!" Red shouted. 

Goldar was a few feet in front of them as they finally started to move together. 

"Slip!" the Power Rangers shouted. 

Goldar's sword came whizzing past them as they moved to the side to avoid being hit. Black was laughing like a maniac as they moved. 

"Grab!" all the Power Rangers yelled. 

They grabbed Goldar around the middle as he took another step forward from the momentum of his swing. 

"Lift!" the Power Rangers recited. 

They bent their legs and then lifted Goldar up into the air. Yelling, they tumbled backwards, slamming Goldar's head into the street. They stood up as Red called out another order. 

"Kim, Trini, pull back on the arms. We've got swords," she said. 

Pink and Purple did as they were told and grabbed the swords attached to their back. They plunged them into Goldar's chest, making him fall onto the street and stop moving. 

"Ha!" Red yelled. 

Purple pulled her sword out of the golden mess while Pink kept hers there. Rita came bursting forth out of the gold. 

"Wait!" she cried. 

"Guys!" Red called. 

Pink pulled out her sword as they all lowered themselves to see her better. Or more accurately, Red to see her. Rita stood up and looked at them. 

"Look at me," she started. "You think you've won? I came for the crystal. Others will come! What you have... it can't last. You know I'm right!"

Red watched her as she spoke, evaluating her words. The others seemed to disagree with the woman's words of her being right. 

"No," Pink whispered. 

"No," Black said in a stronger voice than Pink's. 

"I don't know. But for now, I need you to give your staff and your coin to us. And we'll take you to Zordon and let him be the judge," Red said, her voice being heard by Rita. 

"Zordon? Judge me? Never! No matter what Zordon says, I know I am worthy!" Rita yelled. 

She readjusted her grip on her staff and jumped into the air, heading right to them. They watched her get closer until Red gave a command. 

"Trini! Now!" she shouted. 

Purple drew back her hand and hit Rita so hard she went sailing through the air and her staff shattered into pieces. As Rita flew through the air, Goldar exploded into fragments of gold. Rita was sent so high she reached outer space, headed into the unending abyss. Yellow took his hands away from his face and looked around in shock. 

"Jaylyn, did you just slap her?" Yellow asked. 

"I did. Weird, right?" she replied. 

Blue burst out laughing. It was the same response he had given to Colt Wallace. Everyone laughed at her response, and Blue's laughter as well. 

"That's cool," Yellow continued. "I guess the bully-- you guys don't get-- It's the-- I got it, buddy. Oh, that was scary."

People were coming out and looking up at the Power Rangers in their pods on the Megazord. They watched as a large crowd gathered around them, watching them. The rangers were now laughing in relief to be alive and the threat eliminated. 

"We did it," Pink said. 

Rita stopped moving through space in a quick manner as ice started to coat her body. Her last glance was directed at Earth. The entire town gathered to see the rangers, who were standing in the street in their Megazord, doing nothing but watching the people. 

"I told you we'd be famous," Black pointed out. 

"Is that Principal Feig?" Yellow asked, pointing to a man in a red shirt. "Hey. No, I-- I don't think he can see me."

A man took out his phone and started taking pictures of the rangers. Others quickly followed his example and took photos to remember them all by. The song Unstoppable by The Score started blaring over the speakers in the town. 

"Oh, let's wiggle, Jaylyn," Yellow said, his leg moving. 

The entire Megazord was doing a small dance, much to Red's amusement. She could tell that Blue was having a fun time as well. 

"I call this the algebra. Woo!" Yellow informed them. 

"How do you even do that?" Pink asked. 

Red headed back to the ship to return the sword that had appeared in her hand early on in the fight. She put it into its holder at the top of the stairs as Zordon came to see her. 

"You should keep that," he said, as Red's armor melted away. "You've earned it."

"I'll come back for it," Jaylyn promised. 

"That was terrifying. See you, buddy," Alpha 5 said. 

Smiling, Jaylyn turned and walked off, waving with her hand. Sam put a news article about the Power Rangers on his fridge with a magnet, staring at it for a few seconds. At her house, Trini was starting to repair her room from the damage Rita did. Her brother were sitting at the base of her wall, drawing the rangers on it. 

"Jeremy Franklin told everyone at school," one said. 

"The blue was the best one. That's who I wanna be," the other said. 

"Hey, no, I wanna be the blue one!"

"I wanna be the blue one."

"Hey, how about one of you guys try to be the purple one?" Trini asked, reminding them that there were other rangers to choose from. 

"Oh, yeah, the purple one! Oh, she's so cool!"

Kimberly looked at the picture she had attached to her mirror. She looked at it as she held it in her hand. It was of her, Trini, Jaylyn, Jason, Zack, and Billy all laughing together. 

"There were five of them, like warriors," Zack's mother said in Mandarin as the two were playing chess. "They saved Angel Grove!"

"Five Warriors? Were they good looking?" Zack asked in Mandarin. 

"Checkmate," she answered in English, knocking his King over. 

Zack stared at the board for a few seconds, his mother's hand up for a high-five. He looked at her and gave her a small high-five before quickly pulling his hand away. She ruffled his hair in a playful manner, laughing. 

Jaylyn went to her house in the forest, smiling. Jason had bought her a phone and put it on his parent's data plan. She had her team's contacts in it and that was all she wanted. She sighed and looked out of the window at the mine. Her gaze turned to the cliff not too far away, the entrance to the headquarters of the Power Rangers. She laughed and decided it would be her getaway and swimming pool. She went to Billy's house, meeting up with the other team members. 

Billy was downstairs taking down all the things he had set up to find the crystal. He heard his mother start shouting at him from upstairs. 

"Billy! Jason Scott is here and Kimberly Hart and Zack Taylor and Jaylyn Forest and some girl named Didi," she called. 

"Mom, it's Trini! I'm coming! I'm coming!" Billy shouted, running up the stairs. 

Jason walked down the stairs in detention school with Jaylyn next to him. 

"This ranger team did what my team could not," Zordon's voice said. 

Jason and Jaylyn saw Billy messing around with another explosion switch. Jaylyn raised an eyebrow but said nothing. 

"You will humbly walk amongst your peers," Zordon continued. 

Trini was smiling as she flicked her pen between her fingers. Even Zack was attending the school every time it was in session. 

"But heroes you all will be."

Zack pulled up a chair and sat on it backward, facing his friends. 

"Attention! Attention in detention," the teacher said. 

"Each of your names will be etched alongside the great rangers teams before you."

Billy looked up from his switch, confused and embarrassed, having been asked something and him not hearing. Jaylyn giggled behind her hand. Kimberly folded up a note and sent it flying to Jason and Jaylyn, who were sitting side by side. 

"I will always owe a debt of gratitude to you all."

Jason caught it and opened it to see a lightning bolt with the colors of the Power Rangers. Jaylyn and Jason smiled at it before Jaylyn sent it flying back to Kimberly. The first battle of the new Power Rangers was over. But...

The Power Rangers will return in a different situation. Be prepared.


End file.
